A Forest of Beer with Chocolate Underfoot
So, I’m finally back in Rome after our spring break and the 10 day field trip to Sicily that followed it. It’s beautiful outside here, but I’ll delay going outside until I can finish writing about my past three weeks, which were probably the best yet in Europe. Hopefully I can remember the majority of what I did for the second half of Spring Break, which I spent in England, Scotland, and Ireland. And yes, there was a lot of beer, and a LOT of chocolate. Please try not to worry about me, Mom.
Ok, let’s go back to Wednesday, February 20. The first thing to say about Wednesday, February 20 is that until Tuesday, February 19, I thought that Wednesday, February 20 was actually Thursday, February 20. So I didn’t have quite as much time as I had hoped in Roma to hang out with the Drostes, fresh off the plane from Kansas. I was able to have a couple of really nice dinners with them and bond while climbing the dome of St. Peter’s Basilica (not a bad view!). Hopefully my chocolate crazy alter ego wasn’t too overwhelming for them…ANYWAYS, our visit was cut short because the genius that I am didn’t know what the date was, but thankfully figured it out in time to get on a plane to London, on Wednesday, February 20.
I flew to London and met Melia in the airport, and then we took a train into the city and met Theresa at Platform 9 3/4. (She had been traveling in Wales with her sister). After another train, the three of us were in Cambridge, the ultimate historic college town. It was really interesting, because it was easy to see that a lot of the schools that I have visited in the States have modeled themselves off of the old English universities. The first night, we went to the Evensong service at King’s College Chapel, which has an amazing vaulted ceiling and is one of the most important spaces, architecturally, in England. After a delicious steak dinner, we got a drink and went to bed early. The next morning, we woke up early in order to see more of the town, explored the different colleges (like Trinity Colleges, which has produced over 30 Nobel Prize winners!), and walked the streets of the great English writers and scientists before hopping on a train to York.
Old York= very different than New York. It is a quaint and ancient city that just happens to be the most haunted one in the world (there are 500 resident ghosts). The first day, we explored town and got afternoon tea and biscuits at a cute little shop before going to Evensong at the York Minster, which is the gigantic Gothic Cathedral and seat of the Archbishop of York, second only to the Archbishop of Canterbury. We ate dinner and in the evening, went on a ghost tour that was nothing short of amazing. Our hilarious, sarcastic and witty tour guide, dressed in a full suit and top hat, took us around the city, showing us where dogs were cemented into walls, little girls died of the plague, and ghosts of Roman armies marched through a cellar… you know, the usual. It was a ton of fun, and I even managed to not have nightmares while sleeping in our hotel that was across the street from Guy Fawkes’ school. The next day, we went on a more official, historical tour with a volunteer retired guide. He took us too all of the old Roman and medieval walls and buildings and around the oldest areas of the city. After the tour, we explored some more around the famous street, the Shambles, where each store used to be a butchery and the streets ran with blood! Fun stuff. Really though, York was historical and charming. But before we knew it, we were on a train to Edinburgh, Scottish capital extraordinaire.
After a beautiful train ride up the coast, we checked into our hostel, which was basically at the foot of Edinburgh Castle. Our room was named the Virgin Room. (I think I’ll appreciate these random amusing things later). We walked around the city in the evening, shopped a little and explored the Royal Mile (a long street lined with stores and pubs) before finding fish and chips for dinner. After dinner, we decided that, being in Scotland, we should try this ‘Scotch’ thing. As in, Scottish whiskey. Actually, before this trip, I didn’t know that they were the same thing. And I definitely didn’t know what to get. After some advice from the bartender at the Last Drop pub, we tried Macallan and Oban. And by ‘tried’, I mean that Melia and I both got one (as the man standing next to us proclaimed that we must be wild and that it would put hair on our chests) and helped each other to force it down just to say we did it, chasing it with chocolate. What I learned: I don’t like whiskey, no offense, Scotland. Instead of whiskey, we continued the evening with Scottish beer and a new favorite drink: cider. We also met some really interesting people. Between the three of us, at one point, we were talking to a Syrian, an Iraqi, a Frenchman, a Scot, and an Irish surveyor and his girlfriend. We talked about everything from magic to architecture to how I hate Bush to where we should go in Ireland…good times were had by all, and I decided that I love the pub atmosphere. Again, please don’t be concerned, Mom. The next morning we woke up earlyish and visited St. Giles’ Cathedral, the most important church in Scotland. Next we went to Edinburgh Castle, a huge ancient fortress built into the rock on the highest point of the city. We learned all about Scottish history and saw the oldest building in the city, some really old prisons, royal apartments, war memorials, and the Scottish crown jewels (very cool). Next, we walked down the Royal Mile and ate lunch, listened to a bagpiper, and made our way to the Royal Castle at the other end of the main drag. With some time to kill, we decided to climb the huge hill just outside of downtown that afforded us beautiful views of the city and landscape, and burning quads, to boot. After we came down, properly tired and windswept, we made our way to the newer area of Edinburgh, New Town, which is all Georgian architecture. Unfortunately, I didn’t find out until later that JK Rowling wrote Harry Potter in a café here, so I didn’t get to visit the source of the magic, but we did enjoy a nice hot chocolate before getting on the train to our next destination: Scottish Podunk.
After a layover in Glasgow for dinner, we trained it to the small town of Balloch, which is on Loch Lomond. We were greeted at our B&B by Frank and Lorraine Smith. We soon decided that Mr. and Mrs. Smith were actually secret agents who run an unassuming B&B in the middle of nowhere Scotland as cover…the Porsche in the garage and Frank’s job as a Royal Navy engineer only supported our theory. We fell asleep watching “Scooby Doo Goes To Mexico”. The next morning, we were up early for our delicious full Scottish breakfast, which we spent most of the day walking off. The shower saga also started- apparently some “non-malicious” girls who had stayed in the room before us had been “jumping around in the shower” and cracked the plastic, so when we showered, the crack opened back up and was raining onto Mr. & Mrs. Smith’s bed all night. The saga continued that night, as well, and ended with the 300 lb. Frank bent over in the tiny bathroom caulking the shower as we went to get a cider at the local pub… Anyways, we spent the day exploring the countryside around the southern end of Loch Lomond. It was really refreshing to be out in nature and away from cities, with nothing to do but explore. In the morning, we were on the east side of the lake, hiking around Balloch Castle and getting stuck in a 10 minute rain storm. A highlight of the morning was me falling in the mud on a trail… the plan was to get my way-too-white shoes a little dirty, and it definitely worked…Melia also had fun talking to the swans. After some tea to warm up after the rain, we headed to the other side of the lake and took a road that led up over the hills. The car road turned into a stone path that reminded us of the Shire, and right about the time we were making up Scotch names and our own secret noise language, we decided to head off of the path and forge our own path up the hill. Really, we saw some sheep and wanted to get a closer view. After hopping over a street, mustering through the deep heather, and trying to avoid the sheep poop that was all over the place, we made it to an area where the hill leveled off, and we had an amazing view of Loch Lomond below us in the setting sun. We saw a couple of rainbows in front of the dark clouds over the distant mountains, and it was absolutely breathtaking, and really invigorating to climb the hill and hang out with the sheep. Melia and Theresa weren’t bad, either ☺. Eventually, we climbed down, but only because we didn’t want to get stuck in the dark, and we were probably on private property…we walked back along the river to our B&B, and after some rest and food and the aforementioned shower saga, we fell asleep. The next day we had our last big Scottish breakfast and after a mile run with backpacks on to catch a 9:25 train, we found out that the train wasn’t until 9:35 and sat around catching our breaths…we trained into Glasgow and explored for a little bit- we saw Macintosh’s Art School before heading to the airport and catching our flight to Ireland.
After a greeting of rain in Cork, we found our hostel, and Ben and Jimmy asleep. The five of us spent the rest of the afternoon walking around Cork. We explored the city and the University, then ate dinner and went to the Corner House, a pub that the Irish woman in Edinburgh recommended to us. We tried Murphy’s and Beamish, two Irish stouts that are brewed in Cork. The next morning, we were up early to the sound of exploding showers (we curse the showers wherever we go), got a reimbursement (we really weren’t planning on showering anyways), and got on a bus to go to Blarney Castle. We spent a couple of hours in Blarney. It was a ton of fun- I thought it would be overrated and touristy, but we got there right when it opened and we were the only ones there. Theresa and Jimmy found a cavern underneath the castle, and I faced my fear of heights and leaned over the wall backwards to kiss the Blarney Stone. There was a trained man holding onto me, and a bar to prevent anyone from falling, but it was pretty intense anyways. Don’t worry, it rained the night before and didn’t taste like pee at all. And now I’ll be eloquent for the rest of my life. We went back to Cork and then took a beautiful bus ride to Killarney.
Killarney was a beautiful city. We only had the afternoon there, but after lunch, we walked through town directly to the beautiful National Park that borders the city. We even made a friend, Billy the dog, who followed us around until stealing the wrapper of my muffin. We took it back, he lost interest, and we felt betrayed… anyways, the park itself was beautiful. There are some areas there that have been continuously wooded since the last glacier came through about 10,000 years ago. We walked through some of these woods to see Roth Castle, which sits on the shore of Loch Leane. Again, it was beautiful. We walked back and took a bus to Galway, through Limerick- officially setting foot in five different famous Irish cities in one day.
In Galway, my friend Jane from high school met us at the station and took us to her apartment, where we stayed for the next two nights on one giant mattress of love. She is studying there for the semester, so she took us to one of her favorite pubs, the King’s Head on the first night. The next day, we considered going to the Cliffs of Mohr, but missed the bus, so we spent the day exploring Galway, which turned out to be a great way to spend a day. Galway is an awesome city. We explored some churches, including St. Nicholas, the Claddagh church, and the Cathedral. We went to the University, and shopped for a while in the afternoon. In the evening, we took Jane out for dinner, and then on our own, we went to a couple of different pubs- the Living Room and the Rosin Dubh. Rosin Dubh (means ‘Black Rose’) was especially a ton of fun. I discovered Bulmers cider with black currant, and there was really good live music, something I haven’t seen since John Mayer. We went back to Jane’s apartment and went to bed, but only after a performance from Ben and Jimmy involving balloons and a sleeping bag.
The next morning, we said goodbye to Jane and took a bus to Dublin to meet Brian. We went to Trinity College first, and saw the book of Kells and the beautiful Trinity College library. Random fact: Trinity College is where Bono saw his first concert. After that, we made our way towards St. Patrick’s Cathedral, where we went to Evensong (Evensong=get in free, by the way). Then we ate dinner and went to a pub before an early night. The next day was windy and rainy, but we didn’t let it stop us- we walked around on the North side of the river in Dublin and saw the Spire, Abbey Theater (anticlimactic), an old arch, and the James Joyce statue. Then we crossed the river and saw Oscar Wilde’s house and statue, and went to St. Stephen’s Green after lunch. Then the group split, and Theresa and I went to the Archeology Museum, where we learned all about Irish history and saw some pretty gross bog men. The guys went to the Jamison Factory, but as I said, no more whiskey for me. We all met back up mid afternoon at the Guinness Storehouse at St. James’s Gate, a giant seven-story warehouse turned touristy yet informative and high tech museum, and important for being the place that Guinness was invented and is still brewed today. After learning all I could ever want to know about how they make the famous stout, we all enjoyed a Guinness in the bar on top of the building and had a panoramic view of Dublin beneath us. What I learned: Guinness is good for you. Afterwards, we went to the Brazen Head, which is the oldest pub in Ireland (from the 12th century!), and enjoyed some final fish and chips before returning to the land of pasta. After dinner, we went to our last pub, and I got my last Bulmer’s with black currant, with my last few pieces of change… The next morning, we swung by the church next door to our hostel to see St. Valentine’s tomb, and then went to Christ Church before heading to the airport and back to Roma, Roma, Roma. Dublin ended up being a really pleasant surprise of a city, and a great way to finish off Spring Break.
In general, I loved England, Scotland, and Ireland. The landscapes of all three places were absolutely beautiful, and even if the weather wasn’t ideal, it was great to be outside. Bus and train are a great way to travel. I loved being in efficient countries with wonderful people who speak English. I loved the culture of pubs. True, drinking was noticeably a huge part of the Scottish and Irish cultures, especially, but it was so much fun to sit around with friends and listen to music. I loved eating ridiculous amounts of chocolate. I loved learning about the history of places that were very different than anywhere else I’ve been, but just as rich- to hear about Vikings instead of Romans was refreshing. I loved traveling with Theresa, Melia, Ben, Jimmy, and Brian- everyone has gotten to know each other well that we’ve really lost most inhibitions, and it was a ton of fun just to goof off together. The biggest negative of the trip was the horrible exchange rate of the dollar against the pound, but hopefully one day, I’ll be able to forget about that.
We got back to Rome on Saturday, March 1, at 5:40 pm, with about 37 hours to recover before leaving again. Next destination: Sicily.
For photos from England and Scotland:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2137145&l=84a22&id=5612188
For photos from Ireland and climbing St. Peter’s:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2137143&l=aa609&id=5612188
Ok, let’s go back to Wednesday, February 20. The first thing to say about Wednesday, February 20 is that until Tuesday, February 19, I thought that Wednesday, February 20 was actually Thursday, February 20. So I didn’t have quite as much time as I had hoped in Roma to hang out with the Drostes, fresh off the plane from Kansas. I was able to have a couple of really nice dinners with them and bond while climbing the dome of St. Peter’s Basilica (not a bad view!). Hopefully my chocolate crazy alter ego wasn’t too overwhelming for them…ANYWAYS, our visit was cut short because the genius that I am didn’t know what the date was, but thankfully figured it out in time to get on a plane to London, on Wednesday, February 20.
I flew to London and met Melia in the airport, and then we took a train into the city and met Theresa at Platform 9 3/4. (She had been traveling in Wales with her sister). After another train, the three of us were in Cambridge, the ultimate historic college town. It was really interesting, because it was easy to see that a lot of the schools that I have visited in the States have modeled themselves off of the old English universities. The first night, we went to the Evensong service at King’s College Chapel, which has an amazing vaulted ceiling and is one of the most important spaces, architecturally, in England. After a delicious steak dinner, we got a drink and went to bed early. The next morning, we woke up early in order to see more of the town, explored the different colleges (like Trinity Colleges, which has produced over 30 Nobel Prize winners!), and walked the streets of the great English writers and scientists before hopping on a train to York.
Old York= very different than New York. It is a quaint and ancient city that just happens to be the most haunted one in the world (there are 500 resident ghosts). The first day, we explored town and got afternoon tea and biscuits at a cute little shop before going to Evensong at the York Minster, which is the gigantic Gothic Cathedral and seat of the Archbishop of York, second only to the Archbishop of Canterbury. We ate dinner and in the evening, went on a ghost tour that was nothing short of amazing. Our hilarious, sarcastic and witty tour guide, dressed in a full suit and top hat, took us around the city, showing us where dogs were cemented into walls, little girls died of the plague, and ghosts of Roman armies marched through a cellar… you know, the usual. It was a ton of fun, and I even managed to not have nightmares while sleeping in our hotel that was across the street from Guy Fawkes’ school. The next day, we went on a more official, historical tour with a volunteer retired guide. He took us too all of the old Roman and medieval walls and buildings and around the oldest areas of the city. After the tour, we explored some more around the famous street, the Shambles, where each store used to be a butchery and the streets ran with blood! Fun stuff. Really though, York was historical and charming. But before we knew it, we were on a train to Edinburgh, Scottish capital extraordinaire.
After a beautiful train ride up the coast, we checked into our hostel, which was basically at the foot of Edinburgh Castle. Our room was named the Virgin Room. (I think I’ll appreciate these random amusing things later). We walked around the city in the evening, shopped a little and explored the Royal Mile (a long street lined with stores and pubs) before finding fish and chips for dinner. After dinner, we decided that, being in Scotland, we should try this ‘Scotch’ thing. As in, Scottish whiskey. Actually, before this trip, I didn’t know that they were the same thing. And I definitely didn’t know what to get. After some advice from the bartender at the Last Drop pub, we tried Macallan and Oban. And by ‘tried’, I mean that Melia and I both got one (as the man standing next to us proclaimed that we must be wild and that it would put hair on our chests) and helped each other to force it down just to say we did it, chasing it with chocolate. What I learned: I don’t like whiskey, no offense, Scotland. Instead of whiskey, we continued the evening with Scottish beer and a new favorite drink: cider. We also met some really interesting people. Between the three of us, at one point, we were talking to a Syrian, an Iraqi, a Frenchman, a Scot, and an Irish surveyor and his girlfriend. We talked about everything from magic to architecture to how I hate Bush to where we should go in Ireland…good times were had by all, and I decided that I love the pub atmosphere. Again, please don’t be concerned, Mom. The next morning we woke up earlyish and visited St. Giles’ Cathedral, the most important church in Scotland. Next we went to Edinburgh Castle, a huge ancient fortress built into the rock on the highest point of the city. We learned all about Scottish history and saw the oldest building in the city, some really old prisons, royal apartments, war memorials, and the Scottish crown jewels (very cool). Next, we walked down the Royal Mile and ate lunch, listened to a bagpiper, and made our way to the Royal Castle at the other end of the main drag. With some time to kill, we decided to climb the huge hill just outside of downtown that afforded us beautiful views of the city and landscape, and burning quads, to boot. After we came down, properly tired and windswept, we made our way to the newer area of Edinburgh, New Town, which is all Georgian architecture. Unfortunately, I didn’t find out until later that JK Rowling wrote Harry Potter in a café here, so I didn’t get to visit the source of the magic, but we did enjoy a nice hot chocolate before getting on the train to our next destination: Scottish Podunk.
After a layover in Glasgow for dinner, we trained it to the small town of Balloch, which is on Loch Lomond. We were greeted at our B&B by Frank and Lorraine Smith. We soon decided that Mr. and Mrs. Smith were actually secret agents who run an unassuming B&B in the middle of nowhere Scotland as cover…the Porsche in the garage and Frank’s job as a Royal Navy engineer only supported our theory. We fell asleep watching “Scooby Doo Goes To Mexico”. The next morning, we were up early for our delicious full Scottish breakfast, which we spent most of the day walking off. The shower saga also started- apparently some “non-malicious” girls who had stayed in the room before us had been “jumping around in the shower” and cracked the plastic, so when we showered, the crack opened back up and was raining onto Mr. & Mrs. Smith’s bed all night. The saga continued that night, as well, and ended with the 300 lb. Frank bent over in the tiny bathroom caulking the shower as we went to get a cider at the local pub… Anyways, we spent the day exploring the countryside around the southern end of Loch Lomond. It was really refreshing to be out in nature and away from cities, with nothing to do but explore. In the morning, we were on the east side of the lake, hiking around Balloch Castle and getting stuck in a 10 minute rain storm. A highlight of the morning was me falling in the mud on a trail… the plan was to get my way-too-white shoes a little dirty, and it definitely worked…Melia also had fun talking to the swans. After some tea to warm up after the rain, we headed to the other side of the lake and took a road that led up over the hills. The car road turned into a stone path that reminded us of the Shire, and right about the time we were making up Scotch names and our own secret noise language, we decided to head off of the path and forge our own path up the hill. Really, we saw some sheep and wanted to get a closer view. After hopping over a street, mustering through the deep heather, and trying to avoid the sheep poop that was all over the place, we made it to an area where the hill leveled off, and we had an amazing view of Loch Lomond below us in the setting sun. We saw a couple of rainbows in front of the dark clouds over the distant mountains, and it was absolutely breathtaking, and really invigorating to climb the hill and hang out with the sheep. Melia and Theresa weren’t bad, either ☺. Eventually, we climbed down, but only because we didn’t want to get stuck in the dark, and we were probably on private property…we walked back along the river to our B&B, and after some rest and food and the aforementioned shower saga, we fell asleep. The next day we had our last big Scottish breakfast and after a mile run with backpacks on to catch a 9:25 train, we found out that the train wasn’t until 9:35 and sat around catching our breaths…we trained into Glasgow and explored for a little bit- we saw Macintosh’s Art School before heading to the airport and catching our flight to Ireland.
After a greeting of rain in Cork, we found our hostel, and Ben and Jimmy asleep. The five of us spent the rest of the afternoon walking around Cork. We explored the city and the University, then ate dinner and went to the Corner House, a pub that the Irish woman in Edinburgh recommended to us. We tried Murphy’s and Beamish, two Irish stouts that are brewed in Cork. The next morning, we were up early to the sound of exploding showers (we curse the showers wherever we go), got a reimbursement (we really weren’t planning on showering anyways), and got on a bus to go to Blarney Castle. We spent a couple of hours in Blarney. It was a ton of fun- I thought it would be overrated and touristy, but we got there right when it opened and we were the only ones there. Theresa and Jimmy found a cavern underneath the castle, and I faced my fear of heights and leaned over the wall backwards to kiss the Blarney Stone. There was a trained man holding onto me, and a bar to prevent anyone from falling, but it was pretty intense anyways. Don’t worry, it rained the night before and didn’t taste like pee at all. And now I’ll be eloquent for the rest of my life. We went back to Cork and then took a beautiful bus ride to Killarney.
Killarney was a beautiful city. We only had the afternoon there, but after lunch, we walked through town directly to the beautiful National Park that borders the city. We even made a friend, Billy the dog, who followed us around until stealing the wrapper of my muffin. We took it back, he lost interest, and we felt betrayed… anyways, the park itself was beautiful. There are some areas there that have been continuously wooded since the last glacier came through about 10,000 years ago. We walked through some of these woods to see Roth Castle, which sits on the shore of Loch Leane. Again, it was beautiful. We walked back and took a bus to Galway, through Limerick- officially setting foot in five different famous Irish cities in one day.
In Galway, my friend Jane from high school met us at the station and took us to her apartment, where we stayed for the next two nights on one giant mattress of love. She is studying there for the semester, so she took us to one of her favorite pubs, the King’s Head on the first night. The next day, we considered going to the Cliffs of Mohr, but missed the bus, so we spent the day exploring Galway, which turned out to be a great way to spend a day. Galway is an awesome city. We explored some churches, including St. Nicholas, the Claddagh church, and the Cathedral. We went to the University, and shopped for a while in the afternoon. In the evening, we took Jane out for dinner, and then on our own, we went to a couple of different pubs- the Living Room and the Rosin Dubh. Rosin Dubh (means ‘Black Rose’) was especially a ton of fun. I discovered Bulmers cider with black currant, and there was really good live music, something I haven’t seen since John Mayer. We went back to Jane’s apartment and went to bed, but only after a performance from Ben and Jimmy involving balloons and a sleeping bag.
The next morning, we said goodbye to Jane and took a bus to Dublin to meet Brian. We went to Trinity College first, and saw the book of Kells and the beautiful Trinity College library. Random fact: Trinity College is where Bono saw his first concert. After that, we made our way towards St. Patrick’s Cathedral, where we went to Evensong (Evensong=get in free, by the way). Then we ate dinner and went to a pub before an early night. The next day was windy and rainy, but we didn’t let it stop us- we walked around on the North side of the river in Dublin and saw the Spire, Abbey Theater (anticlimactic), an old arch, and the James Joyce statue. Then we crossed the river and saw Oscar Wilde’s house and statue, and went to St. Stephen’s Green after lunch. Then the group split, and Theresa and I went to the Archeology Museum, where we learned all about Irish history and saw some pretty gross bog men. The guys went to the Jamison Factory, but as I said, no more whiskey for me. We all met back up mid afternoon at the Guinness Storehouse at St. James’s Gate, a giant seven-story warehouse turned touristy yet informative and high tech museum, and important for being the place that Guinness was invented and is still brewed today. After learning all I could ever want to know about how they make the famous stout, we all enjoyed a Guinness in the bar on top of the building and had a panoramic view of Dublin beneath us. What I learned: Guinness is good for you. Afterwards, we went to the Brazen Head, which is the oldest pub in Ireland (from the 12th century!), and enjoyed some final fish and chips before returning to the land of pasta. After dinner, we went to our last pub, and I got my last Bulmer’s with black currant, with my last few pieces of change… The next morning, we swung by the church next door to our hostel to see St. Valentine’s tomb, and then went to Christ Church before heading to the airport and back to Roma, Roma, Roma. Dublin ended up being a really pleasant surprise of a city, and a great way to finish off Spring Break.
In general, I loved England, Scotland, and Ireland. The landscapes of all three places were absolutely beautiful, and even if the weather wasn’t ideal, it was great to be outside. Bus and train are a great way to travel. I loved being in efficient countries with wonderful people who speak English. I loved the culture of pubs. True, drinking was noticeably a huge part of the Scottish and Irish cultures, especially, but it was so much fun to sit around with friends and listen to music. I loved eating ridiculous amounts of chocolate. I loved learning about the history of places that were very different than anywhere else I’ve been, but just as rich- to hear about Vikings instead of Romans was refreshing. I loved traveling with Theresa, Melia, Ben, Jimmy, and Brian- everyone has gotten to know each other well that we’ve really lost most inhibitions, and it was a ton of fun just to goof off together. The biggest negative of the trip was the horrible exchange rate of the dollar against the pound, but hopefully one day, I’ll be able to forget about that.
We got back to Rome on Saturday, March 1, at 5:40 pm, with about 37 hours to recover before leaving again. Next destination: Sicily.
For photos from England and Scotland:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2137145&l=84a22&id=5612188
For photos from Ireland and climbing St. Peter’s:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2137143&l=aa609&id=5612188