The Burren and the Cliffs of Moher

On our full day in Galway we took a tour of the burren and the cliffs of moher.  The tour took up most of the day and we got to see some pretty cool stuff.  We drove by a castle, the ruins of a castle mostly.  The first stop though was a family farm located in the burren.  The burren is basically this rocky area made up of limestone.  So you’d think it would be kind of barren and desolate but there’s actually a lot of plant life that grows there that usually only grow in alpine and Mediterranean climates, but they happen to grow here as well.  And so that is the setting for the tour we went on and the land we were exploring just happens to belong to the tour guide and/or his family which is pretty cool.  And for an added bit of fun his name was John Connolly. 

So John showed us around the farm.  We saw some cows and some sheep.  And it’s springtime so there was lots baby cows and baby sheep as well.  And then we were off hiking up the rocky path of the burren area.  He pointed out some flowers that we starting to bloom and we also saw a fairy tree.  People used to come to the tree and would tie something like a ribbon or a piece of string to the tree and it would symbolize leaving their problems on the tree.  Kinda cool.  I didn’t have anything to tie on there though.  From on top of the hill you could also see the ruins of this abbey that was built back in the 12^th century.  You can also see the ruins of these 3 churches in the area called 7 churches.  There were only ever 3 churches there…but the celts like the number 7.  It’s a good number.  So they call it 7 churches.  The Irish seem to have lots of fun stories like that.

After we finished up outside we went into the little cottage on the property where they have some cute sitting rooms and sell fabulous and award winning homemade cakes and coffee and tea and all that good stuff.  I got this really awesome cheesecake.  And then we sat in there and ate and listened to John sing some old Irish song.  It was a lot of fun.  And once we had finished eating and drinking we went back outside and got to see a puppy they had bought recently, it was just 13 weeks old, a cavalier king charles spaniel named coco.  There was also a little lamb that is just a couple weeks old whose mother rejected it so now they are bottle feeding it.  Then it was time to get back on the bus and move on to the next destination, the highlight of the tour, the cliffs of moher.

The cliffs are basically one of the biggest deal sort of things to see in Ireland.  One of the most visited places in the country.  They’ve also been seen in the princess bride and harry potter and the half blood.  They’re basically beautiful and breathtaking and no pictures I could have taken would have been able to convey the reality of standing on them and looking out on the water down below.  It’s just truly indescribable. 

All too soon though our time at the cliffs was over.  And then it was back on the bus and off to a nearby town where we stopped for lunch at a local pub/bar place.  I got some good vegetable soup and some brown bread.  Then we were off again.  We saw a famous dulman with a name I can’t remember.  Basically it’s an ancient tomb of sorts where archeologists or whoever studies that kind of thing found evidence that around 30 people were buried in this place and there’s these big stones set up to mark the place, kind of reminiscent of Stonehenge but on a much smaller scale.

At this point we were making our way back to Galway City.  We got to see some more beautiful irish countryside.  And then we passed by the castle we passed at the beginning of the day but this time the tide was in so we got to see it surrounded by water which was pretty cool.  Basically it was a pretty awesome first full day in Ireland.

By the time we got back it was early evening so we wandered through the city and looked in some shops and things like that.  Luckily it was a Thursday so that means late night shopping.  Thursdays and Fridays are the only days that the stores are open past 6 here.  It’s really weird and definitely very different from spain where the stores are always open til 9 or 10. 

Another fun Ireland fact to leave you with.  Our bus driver told us about the 3 different types of weather they have in Ireland.  1. It has rained.  2. It is raining.  3. It is going to rain.

And we believe it.  We’ve experienced it.  It’s not really a matter of if it will rain.  It’s only a matter of when it will rain.  Luckily though we haven’t really got stuck in it when it’s coming down really hard or anything.  Just a light fall of rain now and then that usually only lasts a few minutes.  Not anything to complain about.

But anyway, more Ireland fun to come.

And the next stop...Ireland

We didn’t have to get up too terribly early today to get our travel day started.  We had ordered a cab to come at 11 so I don’t think we got up til almost 10 to do our last minute packing and eat a little something for breakfast.   Then off we were, to the train station where we would get our train back to Edinburgh.  Then from the train station we took the bus back to the airport.  We allowed ourselves more time than necessary to make our flight.  So we wound up sitting around the airport for awhile once again but I guess I’d rather that than rushing around and running to make our flight. 

Spent my last few pounds getting something to eat and then before you know it we were boarding the plane and off to the final country in our European tour, Ireland.  The flight was quick, just 45 minutes.  And then we were in Dublin.  That’s not the final destination for the day though so once we got through the passport check and collected our bags we set off to find a bus that would take us to galway.  We didn’t end up finding the exact bus that we had found online, but we did find another one I had looked at.  It wasn’t leaving for another 50 minutes, but it worked.  So we sat on the bus awhile but we did get going eventually and we should get into galway a little after 9 if all goes as plan.  I don’t have as good of an idea of what I want to do while here so we’re going to have a bit of fun just winging it.  Hopefully all will go well.

We got into galway and everything went fine.  The hotel was just a few minutes walk from the bus station.  We got checked in and went up to the room which had a purple door which was just awesome.  Also one of the walls of the room was purple so that was pretty cool too.  We also had a little balconey which was nice.  It was already after 9 when we got in and we had had a long day of traveling so we didn’t go out and do anything that night.  We did book a tour for the next day though.  And then we just spent some time relaxing in the room.  We were definitely looking forward to the next day of seeing beautiful irish scenery though.

Stirling, Scotland

We slept in quite a bit today, but I think the sleep was needed.  And we didn’t really have any set plans so it didn’t really matter.  We did eventually get up and moving though and the first item on the agenda was to see the Wallace national monument.  And all day we were just going to be hoping that it wouldn’t rain. 

We took a bus to a place that was closer to the monument but there was still a bit of uphill walking to go.  And then of course when you got to the monument itself there was an uphill hike and then over 200 stairs to get to the top of the monument.  Needless to say we got a bit of a workout.  The monument honors the Scottish hero William Wallace you fought during the wars way back in some era I can’t remember.  But basically he was fighting for Scottish independence.  So years later they built this monument to remember him and honor him and all that good stuff.  The monument experience includes climbing all these stairs, in a narrow spiral staircase, and there are a few stops along the way, a couple of landings where there is some information about Wallace and Scotland and the monument.  Really I think they just had to put some landings in as a place for people to catch their breath for a sec while climbing all those stairs. 

We did make it to the top though, where it is open and exposed to the elements.  It was cloudy and windy and cold and we could see it raining all around us near the mountains or highlands.  So we didn’t stay too long to admire the view, just long enough to take a couple of pictures and get thoroughly chilled.  Then it was back down the winding staircase and down the muddy path through the hills. 

From there we set off towards the university.  We were planning on stopping there to eat lunch.  On the way we walked through some of the campus housing.  Apparently they’re called “chalets” but basically it’s a bunch of wooden cabins and looks more like accommodations for a summer camp.  But otherwise the university seems really nice.  It looked like there was a lot of stuff to do there and things seemed pretty modern and new looking.  While we were there we got a drink from the coffee shop and ate sandwiches we had brought with us.  We also got to meet one of Rachel’s UK friends.  He was English and I forget what exactly his area of expertise is but he seemed liked the way too smart type.  Nice enough though. 

After our lunch break we took the long way back to the bus stop so that we could see all the swans that live on the “loch” on campus.  There were a ton of them.  And they’re a lot bigger than you think they are.  And they were hoping we had food.  But we didn’t, luckily, or else they probably would have been swarming us even more so than they already did.  We had to leave the swans behind though as we needed to get to the big attraction, stirling castle.

The bus took us, again, close to the castle but there were still some hills between the castle and us.  But we made it up to the castle and began to explore the castle where numerous Scottish rulers had lived.  The neat thing about stirling is its location.  Its location is referred to as the gateway to the highlands as it is located in about the middle of the country between the highlands and the lowlands.  And basically it was said that whoever controlled this area had control of the country as a whole.  The whole castle experience is very well done.  What they are trying to do is make the castle look as it would have when it was inhabited hundreds of years ago.  They have painted the outside on part of it as it would not have been just bare and exposed stone back in the day.  Also a big deal in the castle is a group of wood carvings known as the “stirling heads” which adorn the ceiling of one of the rooms of the castle.  These carvings were installed during the reign of one of the many James and were suppose to show different characteristics of his and why he had the right to rule and all that jazz.  So the castle people have had all of these heads remade and painted and put back in their place on the ceiling.  It’s all really nice and pretty cool to see.  There’s lots of information so you know exactly what you’re seeing the whole time.

We stayed at the castle right up until closing time and then we walked back into town to go out to dinner.  We went to this pub where they served just your typical pub food – burgers and other sandwiches, nothing too strange.  Apparently macaroni and cheese is eaten a lot in Scotland though so that’s what I got.  Something I like and something “traditional”.   It was a really good meal.  After that we would have liked to have gone and looked around at some shops or something as it was only like 7 or something like that, but apparently in stirling shops typically close at like 5 or 6.  Weird.

So we just walked back to the house and spent another night relaxing in the homey atmosphere.  We used the internet and looked up our family names to see if they were connected with any Scottish clans.  Mine isn’t, but it was still fun to look at all of the family tartans.  The kilt is still very much used as traditional formalwear here and a big part of that is the family tartan.  The kilt is not just any plaid pattern, it’s the family tartan and each clan has its own.  It’s kind of cool really.

Soon it was time for bed though, another chance to get a good night’s sleep before returning to our crazy tourist schedule as we roam around Ireland.  Hard to believe I’m only a week away from home!  It’s been the adventure of a lifetime though and I’ll take a little exhaustion if it means I get to see so many amazing things and go to so many amazing places.

a very long day

On the day we traveled from London to Scotland, our day began very early.  We got up around 2 and we had a taxi coming to pick us up at the hotel at 3.  Having gone to bed between 11:30 and 12 we got less than 3 hours sleep.  Awesome. 

We went downstairs and checked out and met with our cab driver.  He took us to the bus station where we would get a bus to the airport.  Well, he dropped us off close to the bus station, we still had to walk around a bit to find it.  And then all of the obvious entrances were closed because it was 3am.  But we did finally find the bus we wanted and the driver told us where to go buy a ticket although we did go through the wrong door once before we got it right.  Then it was an hour or a little more on the bus before arriving at the Gatwick airport. 

We got checked in and got through security and it hardly took us any time at all.  So we were super early getting to our gate.  Except we did have to wait a minute before getting to the part of the airport where our gate was because they take a picture of you when you go through security and put a barcode on your boarding pass and then when you get to the gate they’re supposed to scan the barcode and you picture should pop up.  But ours weren’t scanning so we had to stand around a bit while the ladies working there figured that out.  But they were very friendly and said fun things with their british accents so it was ok.  And then we just had to wait.

We did finally board the plane though and the flight was fine.  We even got some breakfast though it was a little weird.  I did eat some sausage and egg and drink some orange juice.  So that was nice.  When we got in to the Edinburgh airport we collected our bags and found the airlink bus that would take us to the train station where we would get a train to stirling.  Everything went very smoothly actually.  We got to the station and got our tickets without a problem.  And when we got to stirling we just had to wait a short time for Emily’s sister’s friend that we would be staying with to come and take us back to their flat.  So we waited in the little coffee shop at the train station and got a drink and a snack.  And then Rachel arrived and we all took a taxi to the flat.

It had been a very long day though and we were really tired.  So we didn’t really do much that night.  We just kind of hung out and relaxed which was absolutely fine.  When Rachel’s flatmate got back she made this wonderful stu for dinner and it was nice be having a nice meal at “home” again.  I got really accustomed to always being able to count on at least one meal at home in spain so it’s definitely been a change just picking up some fast food or grabbing a cheap sandwich somewhere.

After dinner we lazed around some more and watched some tv.  It doesn’t sound like much, but we got some much needed relaxation time.  It was actually really nice.

London Day 3

We slept in again this morning, getting up to go to mass which we knew was either at 11 or 11:30 at a church near the hotel.  We got there a little before 11, but mass was actually at 11:30.  So we had a little while to wait but that was ok.  It was weird going to mass in English and I really don’t know the new translation any more.  And it just seemed different from what I remember at some parts.  I don’t know. 

After mass we did some souvenir shop perusing.  We really wanted a tshirt from London but we just weren’t finding what we wanted.  So we decided to give it a break and take a walk through Kensington gardens and hyde park.  We set off to find the princess Diana memorial fountain and wound up next to some pond with some swans and ducks and other various birds.  Then we set off for the fountain again.  But we didn’t end up at that fountain, we came across the Italian fountain instead.  Which was still cool.  Then we walked some more and eventually wound up in the hyde park part and finally we found the memorial fountain.  We also found this sculpture of this weird bird thing. 

The next thing we set off to find was Kensington palace.  On the way we passed a memorial of queen victoria’s husband albert.  And some pretty flowers.  And people talking in their fun british accents and saying things that only british people say.  But we did come across the palace eventually and we decided to go in and take a look around.  And then we decided we might as well pay the price and enter.  Although this is the residence of William and Kate, the part that is open to the public is the part that queen Victoria and her husband and children lived in.  Also there is the part that William and Mary lived in and a king that I can’t remember the name of.  It might have been an Edward or a James or who knows.  And the temporary exhibit was some of princess diana’s dresses.  It was all pretty cool.

When we left the palace we got something to eat and then went back to the hotel with the intention of getting to bed early.  But we had to use the internet and finalize some travel plans and pack.  And pretty soon it was 11:30 and we had to get up at 2…

London Day 2

Today we let ourselves sleep in a bit before getting up to go see the changing of the guard at Buckingham palace.  Well, nobody told us how early we needed to get there to actually have a good spot to see stuff so we didn’t see a whole lot, but we did see the band and some guards march by as well as some guards on horseback.  We also got to see an intense british police officer yelling at people to get out of the road which was actually quite comical.  When all the guard changing was over we stuck around to take some pictures and then it was off to our next stop, big ben.

When we came to big ben and the house of parliament we took a ridiculous amount of pictures before walking across the street to Westminster abbey.  We contemplated going to a service so we could go in without paying…but there were too many other things to do.  So we settled for visiting the gift shop where there were lots of neat books to look at with pictures of royalty.  There’s still a bunch of stuff from the royal wedding and then this year is the queen’s diamond jubilee so there’s a ton of souvenir stuff to commemorate that as well.

Eventually though we did move on to Trafalgar square.  However there was some big event going on there so we didn’t really visit it exactly, just kind of saw it from a distance.  And so we headed toward the next stop – King’s Cross Station!  I was so excited to visit platform 9 ¾ however lame it might be.  I know it’s just a brick wall with the name of the platform above it and a trolley looking like it’s gone part way through the wall.  But I think it’s really cool and it was basically a life goal accomplished.  I guess you would have to be a harry potter fan to understand. 

We got lunch near the station and then it was on to London bridge.  We walked around for awhile before finding the tower bridge which is the thing that’s actually worth seeing.  There was also this group of Spanish kids hanging around there and singing and dancing to this Portuguese, maybe Brazilian, song that’s really popular right now.  It made me miss sevilla a bit.  I really like that we’ve been consistently hearing bits of Spanish here and there in all of the places we’ve visited so far.

After viewing the bridge it was time to head back to the hotel to get ready for the big event of the day – Les Mis!!!!  I was soooo excited.  And I was not disappointed.  We took the metro to london’s west end, the theatre district.  We found the theatre and it was so cool to see it down the street with the big show poster and scrolling message about it being the 27^th year it’s running, the longest running show ever.  We got our tickets no problem and our seats were pretty good.  It wasn’t a huge theatre and it wasn’t a huge cast but they still did a really excellent job.  I how the turntable in the floor in the center of the stage is used.  And the girl that played eponine was by far my favorite member of the cast.  She had such a powerful voice and it didn’t surprise me at all that one of her credits was elphaba in wicked because I could hear her singing defying gravity in my head.  I wish I could hear her sing it for real.  Valjean was also very good, I really liked him a lot and fantine was great as well.  We saw an understudy playing cosette but she was pretty good I thought.  I don’t know how I felt about javert, it was kind of off and on depending on the song.  I do wish the guy playing marius had had a bit stronger of a voice.  But the guy that plays marius’s friend, the name I can’t pronounce that starts with an E… he had a really good voice and he had also been in wicked as fiyero which I can totally see.  And the little boy that played gavroche was just adorable.  He was so funny, it was great.  Set wise, I like how they did Javert’s suicide scene and also the scene where valjean is bringing marius back from the barricade through the sewer.  Overall it was a very good performance and I enjoyed it immensely.  But sadly it had to come to an end and we returned to the hotel to rest up for our last day in London.

The theatre fever has returned though and I’m probably going to be looking up shows in Chicago and any nearby city to see what’s playing this summer.  I just love it so much.

London Day 1

On our first day in London…we didn’t really see much of London.  Today was the day we went on a tour of Windsor castle, Stonehenge, and oxford.  We got up early and bus came and picked us up outside the hotel a little after 8.  And we definitely tried to get in on the wrong side of the bus.  The whole driving on the right side thing is really weird.  We sat close to the driver on the bus though and got to hear some fabulous accents as he talked with one of the guides.  This bus took us to the coach station where we met up with our actual tour group.  And the first stop of the day was Windsor castle.  The tour had already been kind of pricey and it hadn’t included admission fees to the castle or Stonehenge, and we weren’t sure that we wanted to pay the extra, but when it came time we decided to go ahead and do it.  And it was a good thing we did.  It would have been a very long day if we had sat around on the bus waiting for the others to get done with the attractions.

Like I said, the first stop was Windsor.  It was really cool the idea of being in an inhabited castle.  This is the castle that the queen normally stays at on the weekends.  It is the oldest inhabited castle in the world.  I think that’s pretty cool.  We didn’t have a lot of time to spend there, like we were running back to the bus to get there on time, but we did get to go through the big stuff, the state apartments and st george’s chapel.  The castle was really beautiful and we got to see a little bit of a changing of the guard.  I’m so used to seeing castles that are super old and that nobody has lived in for years and years.  So it was quite a change to be walking through rooms and hearing how the queen holds various banquets and ceremonies there still today.  But soon it was time to leave and we just had time to stop at a shop recommended by our guide to get a sandwich to eat on the way to our next stop – Stonehenge.

There was quite a bit of driving time between each of these stops.  So it made up for having to get up early because we got to nap a bit on and off throughout the afternoon.  But we did get to Stonehenge and it was very cool to see.  We thought the 45 minutes we had there was going to be plenty of time to see it and then walk around the shop and café area, but that was not the case.  I wound up spending so much time just staring at and listening to the different information on the audioguide and taking way too many pictures.  So it was once again a rush back to the bus.  But we made it back in time and we were soon off to the final stop of the day – Oxford.

It took even longer to get to oxford because there was an accident on the “motorway” so we had to take a different route.  But we got to see a lot of the lovely English countryside and got an extended naptime so it wasn’t too bad.  And we did finally arrive, though sadly not in time to see Christ church or whatever it’s called which is what the great hall in the harry potter movies was based on.  No, we arrived after it had closed.  Too bad.  But we did get to see a couple of the other colleges, their quad area.  Oxford isn’t just one university, one campus, it’s a collection of various colleges spread throughout the town and the students live in the college in their own room and there is also a dining service of some sort at each college I believe.  It seems like a pretty neat place to go to school.  But apparently there are 5 people applying for every place at the school so it’s pretty tough to get into it sounds like.  The other things we saw were the library which has some agreement with English publishers to get a copy of every book they publish.  That’s a lot of books.  The quad area within the library building is where some of the exterior shots of Hogwarts castle in the harry potter movies were filmed.  So that was pretty cool as well.  Next to the library is the Radcliffe camera which is the reading room of the library.  You can’t actually take the books home with you, but you can take them over to this reading room.  We also saw a theatre of sorts I believe it was, though I guess it’s not really used for theatre events but more for concerts and ceremonies like graduations.  And we got to see from the outside the room that they used for the hospital wing in the harry potter movies so I was also very excited by that.

Once all of that sightseeing was done we had some free time in the town and picked up some water and a little snack and then it was back to the bus and back to the city.  We didn’t get dropped off right in front of our hotel, but we did get dropped off pretty close and we were even closer to the little store we found the day before so we decided to pick up some more muffins for breakfast the next couple of days as well as some food from their ready to go take out area for dinner.  We spent the evening eating and using the internet a bit, though it was more expensive than we would have liked.  Then it was off to bed so we could be rested up for a big day of sightseeing in London the following day.