Ireland (with Mom!)

Mom finally got to Vandon House on Thursday afternoon.  I was supposed to pick her up early in the morning from Heathrow, but her plane got delayed so it didn't even get into London until around 1:00pm.  Since I had class at this time I couldn't pick her up and she had to make her way alone.  Everything was fine until she hadn't arrived by 3:00pm and then I started to panic because I had no way to get a hold of her!!!! But she's a smart lady and she got here about an hour after that.

Once I could relax and calm down because I found my mother, we went out to dinner and afterwards I took her to some of the near by sights.  We walked over to Big Ben and Parliament, then walked over the River Thames and saw the London Eye.  That was about all we did though, because Mom was exhausted and we had an early flight in the morning to Ireland anyway.

And when I say early, I mean EARLY!  We had to get up around 3:00am so that we could take a bus and a train to get to the airport.  It was a pain, but I guess that's what you do for cheap flights...Anyway we made the flight (we got the timing a little wrong because we had to run, but its okay because we made it in the end) and we were on our way to Ireland!

Since our flight was so early this meant we got to our hotel really early so we were worried we would have to carry our bags around for awhile.  But they let us check in and we got to eat breakfast, which was a pretty sweet deal.

Then since we were now both tired we decided to take a teensy little nap before going out.  This ended up meaning that we slept for 2 hours and left our room at noon, but whatever.  Once we were up and going we took a bus to the city center to choose what we would do for the day.

We had already gotten a bunch of tourist pamphlets at the airport, and we ended up picking a tour to Malahide Castle and the coast of Ireland.  This turned out to be an excellent choice because it was really sunny and warm out so it made for a nice day.

Malahide Castle

The castle was pretty huge (no Windsor of course, but still big nonetheless) and we got to tour the inside, which looked like it would have in the 17th and 18th centuries.  Apparently places like these don't believe in the phrase 'a picture is worth a thousand words' because they didn't allow pictures either.  Boo.  But it was still a nice place to visit and it was set on an amazing piece of land, where many families were playing or having picnics.  So cute!  Mom was also amazed at all the flowers that were blooming on the grounds and around Ireland, because that definitely isn't happening back home (way too cold!).

Bloomin' Flowers

The castle itself was great, but the views of the coast really made the day.  It was sunny and nice.  We were touring the coast from a double-decker bus, so we could see the coast really well and also people watch (or mainly dog watch!).  I took lots of pictures of this (to make up for the lack of ones of the castle...) and it was just a really nice day.

The Coast!

The next day, we took a hop-on hop-off tour of Dublin.  This just means our bus drove by the main sights in the city and the various drivers keep us entertained with interesting facts about the sights.  It was really fun, mainly because the drivers are so hilarious.  The first time we stayed on the bus for the entire tour, just to hear what we would be driving by.  The next time we got off at St. Stephan's Green to look at the shopping available.  It was a really interesting mall, the architecture was really unique.  Glass made up much of the roof and decorations inside the mall, including a giant clock in the center of the building.  We looked around for a bit and eventually ended up buying wool sweaters, which are so comfy!

The President's House

The Guinness Factory

The mall at St. Stephan's Green

We walked a bit more in the area, many of which is pedestrianized so you don't have to worry about cars.  There were so many people, and it felt that you were running into people quite often.  But we did get to see several street performers, including one guy with a puppet.  It was really funny, the guy made the puppet dance to popular music and bother the people crowding around.

After we got our shopping fix we hopped back on the bus and took it to the Kilmainham Gaol, which is a large jail in the city.  Unfortunately, by the time we got there all the tours were sold out.  However, they did let us in to visit the museum for free, and this was pretty interesting by itself.  Mom and I took an hour or two to read the info and look at the pictures and artifacts in the museum.  It was crazy how many people were executed at this one prison from the 1600's to the early 1900's!

Sights of the Jail...

Then we took the bus back to Temple Bar, which is Dublin's cultural center.  They had many places with live music, and there must have been a game on because there were many people sporting jerseys with their team colors.  After we explored this area a bit and ate dinner we headed back to our hotel room to get some sleep before an early flight back to London.

Since we got back rather early on Sunday morning we had plenty of time to visit something in the city (which is good because Mom and I don't have much time together in London).  So we decided to visit the Tower of London.  First we got a tour by one of the Yeomen Warriors or Beefeaters.  He was really funny and charismatic, cracking a lot of jokes at the expense of many people in the crowd.  He mainly talked about the bloody history of the place, especially those who had been beheaded there.

The Yeomen Warrior (or Beefeater) who gave us our tour

Then we went into the Jewel House, where we saw the amazing Crown Jewels! Some of  the diamonds looked too big to be real!  In this area we also saw a short movie about the current Queen's coronation and the garments she wore during this time.  They also had display cases of dinnerware, made out of gold, and this included a punch bowl that could hold over 100 bottles of wine in it! Apparently royalty know how to party.

Building where the Crown Jewels are kept

There were also several more buildings that you could tour.  These mainly focused on what royalty wore in battle and the prisoners that were kept at the tower.  We even got to see some of the torture devices used on the prisoners!

Some sights at the Tower of London...

The White Tower

Some interesting armor...

To end off the day, Mom and I got a delicious pasty (pastry with meat and vegetable fillings, YUM!) and then went to Camden Town, to visit Camden Market.  Of course, since it was the weekend, the place was packed.  We walked around a lot of it, but since it is such a huge market, we by no means saw all of it.  Mom got some scarves and I drooled over the Chinese food, which is located about every 50 feet in the market.  It was a nice day, but after all the walking we were ready for bed.

Next week its time for Rome...I just hope we're better rested for that trip!

Emily

Windsor and Class Trips!

Last Saturday I went with my friends to Windsor Castle, one of the Queen's many homes.  We paid for admission and an audio tour was included, so we learned many fun facts about this particular Royal residence during our walk around the property.

We were told that the Queen likes to stay here on the weekends and since her flag was flying over the palace, we knew that she was there on the day that we were.  Of course, we didn't actually get to see her, but it was cool to know that she was so close anyway.

The tour begins with a look around the outsides of the buildings, as massive as they are and they you gradually make your way to the interior, where you can actually tour some of the Royal Apartments.  It is really cool to see how some of the past Royalty lived.  And let me tell you, they lived it extravagantly!

Views of the exterior of Windsor Castle

They had rooms upon rooms of furniture, china sets and portraits.  There were even a couple of rooms filled with weapons, and when I say filled with weapons, I mean FILLED with weapons.  There were guns hung up in patterns on the wall and display cases of swords covered in jewels...crazy stuff.

We also saw this amazingly huge doll house, that included working plumbing and electricity.  It was enormous and all the little rooms were so detailed.  It's crazy to me what being rich and powerful can get you...when this doll house was built many of the PEOPLE in England might not have had indoor plumbing but this doll house did!  Unfortunately, pictures weren't allowed inside the apartments so you cannot share in the interior styling of Royalty, as I experienced it.

We ended the tour in the onsite chapel, where many of the Royal Family have been buried over the years, including the current Queen's parents and sister.  It was a very interesting place of worship.  Like many older chapels, the ceiling is extremely beautiful and full of small details.

The Chapel

It took us quite a long time to get through the entire site, but it was a great way to spend a Saturday.  We did some shopping afterwards, but otherwise we went home very satisfied by the way we spent our day.

While Windsor was fun, we spent this weekend at Bath in England and it was even more fabulous!  This trip was sponsored by Central, which meant that our entire program went.  It was a really great trip, made even more great by the fact that I didn't have to put any thought into the planning of the trip.  I have come to realize that I am not a planner, so needless to say it was really nice to just show up.

On our way to Bath we stopped Dyrham Park.  This is basically just a huge house on a really large property that you can tour.  The rooms were all decorated as they would have been in the 1700s.  It was a giant house (so many rooms to see!) and there was a lot of land that you could walk around and explore as well.  And of course there was a church attached to the property (it seems like everywhere you go in Europe there is a church), but my favorite things were the flowering plants outside, which was near a pond.  It was really pretty, so nice to see flowers before Spring officially starts!

The exterior of the house at Dyrham Park

Inside the house

Here is the pretty pond outside the house...

We arrived in Bath on Friday morning at the YMCA we would be staying at for our time there.  I have always thought of YMCAs as a little sketch (especially after seeing the one in Clinton...), but this one was actually really nice.  We didn't even have to stay in dormitory style rooms, like you do at many other hostels.  

After getting settled in, we went on a tour of the Roman baths.  It was really cool and these were just the ruins.  I can't even imagine how great the baths would have been at its height.  There were so many rooms, and we also go audio tours here as well, which was really nice, if not really overwhelming with the amount of information that we got. 

There is still water in the 'baths' but is green with algae and it doesn't look all that fun to swim in, but one of the pools is naturally heated.  It looked like a hot tub and I'm sure it would have been lovely to swim in during Roman times.  I'm sure I learned tons of stuff during my time there, but I really can't remember any of it...it was fun any how!

The Green Pools

Some of the sights inside the baths

On Saturday, we were free to do whatever we pleased.  So we decided since we were so close we would take a trip to Stonehenge.  It was only about an hour away and for the ride we got great views of the countryside around Bath.  Once we arrived it was a different story.  I think that Stonehenge is a place you should visit once, just to appreciate the sheer magnitude of it, but its not really necessary to ever visit again.

Stonehenge...

I don't really know what I was expecting but it was a bunch of GIANT stones, stuck in the ground in order for ancient peoples to keep a 'calendar' of sorts.  While, it was really large and wondering how the stones were positioned that way was a puzzler, there wasn't really a lot that you could actually do at the site.  

There is a roped off path around the stones, and you can listen to some facts about it (many tourists choose not to apparently...), but all you can really do is walk around and take a million pictures of every angle of the site.  I think I probably have near 100 in all, just because thats ALL we did.  I'm glad we went, but after 5 minutes it kind of stops being that interesting...

and more Stonehenge.

After we got back to Bath, we did still more sightseeing.  Central provided us with bus tickets, where we could take 2 tours around Bath, while receiving commentary from a guide.  We went on both tours, and it was really nice to just sit and see all the main attractions in the city.  This took most of the day, and of course gave me even more opportunities to take pictures (if you're wondering, I took about 500 pictures in total).  It was a nice way to spend the day, but surprisingly really tiring.  On these trips we learn tons of facts, most of which I immediately forget, but its nice to say I've been there.

Some of the city sights we saw on our bus tours.

Today, on the last day of our trip we visited the village of Lacock.  The entire village is protected by the National Trust, which means that barely any changes can be made to existing structures.  This gives you the feeling of being back in the 1800s (except of course, for all the really nice, new cars on the street).  In the village is a large Abbey, which we toured and this would have been similar to many other old houses that we have visited except for one thing...Harry Potter was filmed there! Wow.

Harry Potter was here!

After this tour ended, we were free to explore the rest of the small town.  There were lots of cute restaurants and shops to check out.  One sold 100s of different smelling soaps, it was sensory overload!  But the highlight of the afternoon was trying clotted cream.  You would eat this on a scone while drinking tea, which I did.  So British.  The cream was delicious, it was like butter but sweeter, so better.  Yum.  It was a great way to the end the weekend, which I would say was pretty great.

Houses in the Village of Lacock

Now all I have to do is get through the rest of the week and then my mother comes and it is off to Ireland!  Can't wait!

Emily

Weekday Fun!

On Mondays I am usually to lazy to get ready and do anything in the morning before class, but this was the exception!  One of the girls I go on trips with, Renae, and I went on a morning walk to Hyde Park.  We were originally going to walk by Buckingham Palace to watch the changing of the guards, but we got there only a few minutes before it started so the area was too packed for us to see anything.  That's why we decided to bypass this and walk on to the parks in the surrounding area.

Some park views...

It was actually sunny and pretty warm, so it was a really nice morning for a walk in the park.  I think a lot of other people had this same thought because there were many people taking walks with their kids...or my personally favorite, their PUPPIES!!!  Apparently everyone in London has a dog because every time we go out we see sooo many dogs! I always really want to pet them, but I'm pretty sure I would creep people out if I did that...

Besides the dogs, Hyde Park also contains a large pond with swans and other birds living in it.  I don't mind the birds, except the pigeons, which are disgusting and everywhere!  They like to fly right at your face and freak you out.  Not my favorite thing.  But people also ride horses in the park as well.  We saw 3 or 4 people riding on the outskirts of the park and another man riding one in a ring.  Not something I would have thought I would see in the middle of London.

Like I said...tons of birds.

We also had time to see a couple of fountains and statues in the park, including a memorial fountain for Princess Diana.  Its not like a normal fountain, its kind of like a little concrete lazy river that you can play in.  It was different, but also really cool and relaxing to sit by.

These are different parts of the fountain.

The rest of the week was spent in my internship and classes.  I actually started my internship on Wednesday of last week, but this was the first week that I had to go on both Tuesday and Wednesday.  I have to say right now it is a bit of a let down because I don't really have any set tasks or goals to fulfill so I sit there being bored and occasionally looking things up on the Internet.  A little bit of a waste of time, but hopefully they will figure out what they want me to do for next week.  I'm trying hard to keep and open mind about it because it will look good on my resume no matter what!

This morning was really fun though...we went to the London Sea Life Aquarium!  It was in a really large building right next to the London Eye.  This also makes it just across the river from Big Ben and Parliament, which meant we had to stop and take pictures as the clock struck 10.

The view of Big Ben and Parliament from the London Sea Life Aquarium.

The aquarium itself...huge.

The aquarium had 3 whole floors filled with sea creatures!  We spent about 2 hours looking at all the different fish, sharks, starfish, turtles, etc. that were in the aquarium.  I love to go and see all these deep sea creatures that you could never see any other way!  I took a bunch of pictures (most of which didn't turn out because you can't use flash and the fish are swimming so fast!) and there were even some open air pools that you could look into.  My favorite was the one that contained sting-rays and large fish.  Some of the sea life that we saw we soooo BIG! It was just crazy.

At the aquarium we saw Nemo...

and Dory!

We also saw sting-rays, 

more-stingrays,

starfish,

turtles,

and a shark!!!!

The only disappointing thing about the aquarium was that the penguin exhibit doesn't open until May, so we didn't get to look at adorable penguins this morning.  Oh well...I made up for it by getting a souvenir penny with a starfish on it.  So touristy!

I also spent a couple of nights last week trying to book trips for some weekends and Spring Break.  I have decided that I really dislike planning trips.  There is so much that goes into it, and when you go with a group it gets even more complicated!  I did book several flights, to Ireland and Italy, but we still have to look into where we are going to stay, how are we going to get there, what are we going to eat, etc.  So much to think about! Not to mention the money that I am dishing out to do it! Its totally worth it, but that doesn't make the planning or paying anymore enjoyable...

Also only 2 more weeks till Mom comes! Can't wait to see her and get some grape jelly!
Emily