FINALLY! My trip entry!!
I FINALLY uploaded the pictures from my trip! It's taken about a billion years because my brother was not relinquishing the computer. >.<
PHOTOBUCKET ALBUM!
There it is! They're separated into folders by day. Here's the basic itinerary so you can follow along.
Day 1- 20th- Wake up on plane/Land in Shannon, Ireland/Bunratty Castle in Limerick/Hotel/Walk around town/Rain
Day 2- 21st-Jaunty Carts through Kilarny park/replica peat villiage/irish coffee/picture stop at Dingle bay/sheepdog demonstration/butler arms hotel (where charlie chaplin stayed)/picture stop by bay again/ lunch- Irish stew/beach stop/Ladies View- picture stop/Muckrow house/walk around town
Day 3-22nd-leave Kilarny/Blarney Castle/Blarney Stone/Blarney Rock Close/Rock of Castel/Hotel/Irish Night
Day 4- 23rd-Walking Tour of Dublin/St. Patrick's Cathedral/Georgian Houses/Pheonix Park/Irish National Museum/Natural History Museum/Shopping streets/Dinner/Hard Rock Dublin/walk around pubs and stores, meandering/Bus to hotel
Day 5- 24th-Leave hotel/ferry to Hollyhead, Wales...sleep/Beaumaris castle/lunch-fish and chips/Snowdonia/Red Hand Hotel (superstition surrounding it)/Long walk to some castle Ruins...amazing weather/hotel
Day 6- 25th-Leave hotel/drive through Chester, England/Windermere and Lake District/Rydle Mount (Wordsworth's house)/Druid Circle/ hotel
Day 7- 26th-leave hotel/Enter Scotland/Blacksmith's shop/Wool Mill/Drive through Glasgow/Lake Lomond/Stop at view of Glencoe/Hotel in Mallaig/walk around town/tried Haggis (served with a creamy alfredo-esque sauce, which was good. Haggis was just overall meaty. Not bad.)
Day 8- 27th-Take train along Hogwarts Express route from the films/invernes/Loch Ness/ Lunch- Tika Masala/Loch Ness visitor center/ Loch Ness/Run ahead and go to Uroqhart Castle/Drive to another Loch Ness shore/hotel
Day 9- 28th-leave hotel/Sterling Castle (Mary Queen of Scots lived)/hotel in Edinburgh/walk around the town (funny story: friend tries to whistle, thinking she can't do it, but does and after she does, these Scottish guys turn around and go "Hey" to the group of us. My friend was *SO* embarrassed)/Graveyard Walk Tour/hotel
Day 10- 29th-bus tour of Edinburgh/Edinburgh Castle/walk around the city/lunch- good sandwiches)/Prince's Mall/H&M/go to HMV, because they aren't in Cali/hotel/Scottish Cele with Scottish dancing by...us/hotel
Day 11- 30th-leave hotel/looooong drive/Hadrian's Wall/Lunch-Burger King at rest stop/York walking tour/hotel outside Leeds, England
Day 12- 1st-leave hotel/loooong driving again/stop at Stratford (Shakespeare's birthplace)/lunch- curry/souvenier stop/church where Shakespeare's buried/hotel
Day 13- 2st-leave hotel/Bath/Roman Baths/Walking Tour of Bath/Lunch- Pasty/Stonehenge/hotel in London/Dinner- Waggamama/"Blood Brothers"/hotel
Day 14- 3rd-Driving tour of London/changing of the guard/walk around London/Lunch- pasty/British Museum/Tower of London area. Walk around there/Ice Cream/Dinner- Medieval night/hotel
Day 15- 4th-Windsor Castle/Big Ben to meet up with others in our group/ London Dungeons but found it was a theme park so move on/Lunch- pasty/Sherlock Holmes museum/Beatles shop!/The Clink prison/Shakespeare's Globe theater (got cool pins)/Eye of London/Friend gets talked to by the police because he was carrying his scottish knife/hotel
Day 16- 5th-Wake up REALLY early/leave hotel/Train on Chunnel to Paris/hotel/Metro to Mount Montre/ Eat Gelato/Metro to Dinner- Cordon Bleu/Metro to Eiffel Tower area/Boat trip down Seine with tour commentary/Snack-Crepe!/Eiffel Tower/hotel
Day 17- 6th-bus tour of Paris/Notre Dame Cathedral/lunch-gyro (order in French)/Walk around Paris...more Crepes and Gelato/Gardens by Louvre/Metro to Dinner-Salad with Goat Cheese/The Louvre (amazing!!)/metro to hotel
Day 18- 7th- PLANE TRIPS.... >.<
Yeah, so that's the roughest sketch of my trip. The pictures will tell all much better. Here's some more of my thoughts I wrote down.
Overview:
Ireland- Fun and really homey. Really, the people are so nice and you'll have a blast! Think hobbiton. Even in the City of Dublin! Dublin is a really manageable city. It has that big city feel without being huge.
Wales- I wouldn't know much about it. We were only there for a night. It's quite naturally beautiful, though. Go on a hike and see those ruins! So amazing.
Scotland- Edinburgh is my favorite! I'm a city girl, so don't mind my biased-ness towards Dublin/Edinburgh/London. Scotland was pretty and the people were really nice. Their accents are a bit hard to understand, but that can be fun as well as confusing. The rest of the country is really made for tired city dwellers to holiday in.
England- My love!! Country and city and ruins...in the same country! London has pretty nice people in it too. It's not like American cities were nobody really cares and just rush on impatiently. The city has a zillion things to see: monuments, restraunts, shows to see, awesome history, etc. etc. It's been decided: I really want to live near/in London.
France- Stuck up! Whoa. I don't know why Audrey Hepburn likes it so much in her movies, but it's blegh. It really is like one big huge slum. Every Metro stop smells like a public bathroom. Just go for the sights and the crepes and maybe you'll be good. The tourist spots are the only ones with going to, really. Oo, and the crepes. I had a ton.
I was constantly enthralled with the atmosphere there. It's everything I imagined of my favourite bands' vibe/atmosphere. It's darkness. Pink Floyd's obsession with darkness, Mew's overcast glow, The Beatles' version of the plain, sad truth hitting the mainstream culture and true joy of the Sun actually coming...it all belongs here. I do too?
Ok, so basically I was already entrenched in English culture thanks to my favorite bands, Monty Python, Weebl and Bob, and various British movies I've seen. It was kinda funny watching all my peers be confused about it. Shame the tour guide cleared up their confusion. It was kinda funny to watch. Or...maybe I wanted to brag my familiarity.
History is enveloping and absolutely suffocating. At any ruin, no matter how tired I was, I was spellbounded by it, its past residents, and its story. I tried to place myself in their shoes. I walked around the castles, pretending like I owned the place, walking down the tight, winding stairs without the hand rope and imagining myself in a dress with a draping train. I got the average castle layout down fast, too. You know, I even got to thinking about who to imagine as King Arthur and Sir Lancelot in my Guinevere tale. XD It's almost like I'm part of my British/American heritage of melting pots and worldwide nations and international societies and such. "When in Rome..." is actually one of my favourite sayings, even though I don't say it often. Cultures are so fascinating! I pretend to be a local wherever I go. This tourist crap gets you nowhere. I would observe and pick things up quickly.
Hooray western world! I can see the international society at work. We listen to pretty much the same music, same movies, same clothes, same way of life... And it didn't seem like a dream. It's just another city to walk through. It attained reality through experience. That's both good and bad. It's good because it's easy to go to and there's that realization again that people are people no matter where we are and that guys are the same around the world too. It's bad because it's not the dream. "The child has grown/The dream is gone" Hope I'd want to become comfortable numb. ;) All my daydreams I set in the UK/england/london/wherever didn't happen the moment I set foot there. That's always been dreamland. I entered the London of 2007. It's different.
Just upon actually going to England, I've found that my impression of a British accent is really quite horrible. :(
Ok, UK, WHY oh WHY do the shops and museums close SOOO early?! ;_; Like 5:30! >.<
Heehee, I know you're dying to read my opinion on the guys there.
In the UK, it was pretty much similar. Dublin is home to some awesome rockers! My dyed hair was definitely en vogue there. ;) Edinburgh was a pretty cool scene, too. There's alot of Brit type, cool goth types too! (even a cool goth store with guy dressed up like Captain Jack. Yeah one of my friends liked that!) Also, another type was the Scandinavian/Mew type. And the David Gilmour-hair-esque guys (sans the extreme dirtiness, of course). I think half of it has to do with their style over there. The guy who'd be all decked out in American Eagle here, is decked in funky footballer hair and a Euro-track jacket in the UK. Well, the thing is that they're cute, but...well, they're still not rockers. I dunno. Anyways...Haha, there were a ton of businessmen just walking around the city and going on the tube. I thought they were funny. ^^In France...ew. How are they known as the best romancers in the world? Seriously...I saw more than one French guy wearing black and white checkered pants! >.< Ugh, France is such a dump.
ugh...cut off...I'll update more of my thoughts later if you want for me to.
Katrina
PHOTOBUCKET ALBUM!
There it is! They're separated into folders by day. Here's the basic itinerary so you can follow along.
Day 1- 20th- Wake up on plane/Land in Shannon, Ireland/Bunratty Castle in Limerick/Hotel/Walk around town/Rain
Day 2- 21st-Jaunty Carts through Kilarny park/replica peat villiage/irish coffee/picture stop at Dingle bay/sheepdog demonstration/butler arms hotel (where charlie chaplin stayed)/picture stop by bay again/ lunch- Irish stew/beach stop/Ladies View- picture stop/Muckrow house/walk around town
Day 3-22nd-leave Kilarny/Blarney Castle/Blarney Stone/Blarney Rock Close/Rock of Castel/Hotel/Irish Night
Day 4- 23rd-Walking Tour of Dublin/St. Patrick's Cathedral/Georgian Houses/Pheonix Park/Irish National Museum/Natural History Museum/Shopping streets/Dinner/Hard Rock Dublin/walk around pubs and stores, meandering/Bus to hotel
Day 5- 24th-Leave hotel/ferry to Hollyhead, Wales...sleep/Beaumaris castle/lunch-fish and chips/Snowdonia/Red Hand Hotel (superstition surrounding it)/Long walk to some castle Ruins...amazing weather/hotel
Day 6- 25th-Leave hotel/drive through Chester, England/Windermere and Lake District/Rydle Mount (Wordsworth's house)/Druid Circle/ hotel
Day 7- 26th-leave hotel/Enter Scotland/Blacksmith's shop/Wool Mill/Drive through Glasgow/Lake Lomond/Stop at view of Glencoe/Hotel in Mallaig/walk around town/tried Haggis (served with a creamy alfredo-esque sauce, which was good. Haggis was just overall meaty. Not bad.)
Day 8- 27th-Take train along Hogwarts Express route from the films/invernes/Loch Ness/ Lunch- Tika Masala/Loch Ness visitor center/ Loch Ness/Run ahead and go to Uroqhart Castle/Drive to another Loch Ness shore/hotel
Day 9- 28th-leave hotel/Sterling Castle (Mary Queen of Scots lived)/hotel in Edinburgh/walk around the town (funny story: friend tries to whistle, thinking she can't do it, but does and after she does, these Scottish guys turn around and go "Hey" to the group of us. My friend was *SO* embarrassed)/Graveyard Walk Tour/hotel
Day 10- 29th-bus tour of Edinburgh/Edinburgh Castle/walk around the city/lunch- good sandwiches)/Prince's Mall/H&M/go to HMV, because they aren't in Cali/hotel/Scottish Cele with Scottish dancing by...us/hotel
Day 11- 30th-leave hotel/looooong drive/Hadrian's Wall/Lunch-Burger King at rest stop/York walking tour/hotel outside Leeds, England
Day 12- 1st-leave hotel/loooong driving again/stop at Stratford (Shakespeare's birthplace)/lunch- curry/souvenier stop/church where Shakespeare's buried/hotel
Day 13- 2st-leave hotel/Bath/Roman Baths/Walking Tour of Bath/Lunch- Pasty/Stonehenge/hotel in London/Dinner- Waggamama/"Blood Brothers"/hotel
Day 14- 3rd-Driving tour of London/changing of the guard/walk around London/Lunch- pasty/British Museum/Tower of London area. Walk around there/Ice Cream/Dinner- Medieval night/hotel
Day 15- 4th-Windsor Castle/Big Ben to meet up with others in our group/ London Dungeons but found it was a theme park so move on/Lunch- pasty/Sherlock Holmes museum/Beatles shop!/The Clink prison/Shakespeare's Globe theater (got cool pins)/Eye of London/Friend gets talked to by the police because he was carrying his scottish knife/hotel
Day 16- 5th-Wake up REALLY early/leave hotel/Train on Chunnel to Paris/hotel/Metro to Mount Montre/ Eat Gelato/Metro to Dinner- Cordon Bleu/Metro to Eiffel Tower area/Boat trip down Seine with tour commentary/Snack-Crepe!/Eiffel Tower/hotel
Day 17- 6th-bus tour of Paris/Notre Dame Cathedral/lunch-gyro (order in French)/Walk around Paris...more Crepes and Gelato/Gardens by Louvre/Metro to Dinner-Salad with Goat Cheese/The Louvre (amazing!!)/metro to hotel
Day 18- 7th- PLANE TRIPS.... >.<
Yeah, so that's the roughest sketch of my trip. The pictures will tell all much better. Here's some more of my thoughts I wrote down.
Overview:
Ireland- Fun and really homey. Really, the people are so nice and you'll have a blast! Think hobbiton. Even in the City of Dublin! Dublin is a really manageable city. It has that big city feel without being huge.
Wales- I wouldn't know much about it. We were only there for a night. It's quite naturally beautiful, though. Go on a hike and see those ruins! So amazing.
Scotland- Edinburgh is my favorite! I'm a city girl, so don't mind my biased-ness towards Dublin/Edinburgh/London. Scotland was pretty and the people were really nice. Their accents are a bit hard to understand, but that can be fun as well as confusing. The rest of the country is really made for tired city dwellers to holiday in.
England- My love!! Country and city and ruins...in the same country! London has pretty nice people in it too. It's not like American cities were nobody really cares and just rush on impatiently. The city has a zillion things to see: monuments, restraunts, shows to see, awesome history, etc. etc. It's been decided: I really want to live near/in London.
France- Stuck up! Whoa. I don't know why Audrey Hepburn likes it so much in her movies, but it's blegh. It really is like one big huge slum. Every Metro stop smells like a public bathroom. Just go for the sights and the crepes and maybe you'll be good. The tourist spots are the only ones with going to, really. Oo, and the crepes. I had a ton.
I was constantly enthralled with the atmosphere there. It's everything I imagined of my favourite bands' vibe/atmosphere. It's darkness. Pink Floyd's obsession with darkness, Mew's overcast glow, The Beatles' version of the plain, sad truth hitting the mainstream culture and true joy of the Sun actually coming...it all belongs here. I do too?
Ok, so basically I was already entrenched in English culture thanks to my favorite bands, Monty Python, Weebl and Bob, and various British movies I've seen. It was kinda funny watching all my peers be confused about it. Shame the tour guide cleared up their confusion. It was kinda funny to watch. Or...maybe I wanted to brag my familiarity.
History is enveloping and absolutely suffocating. At any ruin, no matter how tired I was, I was spellbounded by it, its past residents, and its story. I tried to place myself in their shoes. I walked around the castles, pretending like I owned the place, walking down the tight, winding stairs without the hand rope and imagining myself in a dress with a draping train. I got the average castle layout down fast, too. You know, I even got to thinking about who to imagine as King Arthur and Sir Lancelot in my Guinevere tale. XD It's almost like I'm part of my British/American heritage of melting pots and worldwide nations and international societies and such. "When in Rome..." is actually one of my favourite sayings, even though I don't say it often. Cultures are so fascinating! I pretend to be a local wherever I go. This tourist crap gets you nowhere. I would observe and pick things up quickly.
Hooray western world! I can see the international society at work. We listen to pretty much the same music, same movies, same clothes, same way of life... And it didn't seem like a dream. It's just another city to walk through. It attained reality through experience. That's both good and bad. It's good because it's easy to go to and there's that realization again that people are people no matter where we are and that guys are the same around the world too. It's bad because it's not the dream. "The child has grown/The dream is gone" Hope I'd want to become comfortable numb. ;) All my daydreams I set in the UK/england/london/wherever didn't happen the moment I set foot there. That's always been dreamland. I entered the London of 2007. It's different.
Just upon actually going to England, I've found that my impression of a British accent is really quite horrible. :(
Ok, UK, WHY oh WHY do the shops and museums close SOOO early?! ;_; Like 5:30! >.<
Heehee, I know you're dying to read my opinion on the guys there.
In the UK, it was pretty much similar. Dublin is home to some awesome rockers! My dyed hair was definitely en vogue there. ;) Edinburgh was a pretty cool scene, too. There's alot of Brit type, cool goth types too! (even a cool goth store with guy dressed up like Captain Jack. Yeah one of my friends liked that!) Also, another type was the Scandinavian/Mew type. And the David Gilmour-hair-esque guys (sans the extreme dirtiness, of course). I think half of it has to do with their style over there. The guy who'd be all decked out in American Eagle here, is decked in funky footballer hair and a Euro-track jacket in the UK. Well, the thing is that they're cute, but...well, they're still not rockers. I dunno. Anyways...Haha, there were a ton of businessmen just walking around the city and going on the tube. I thought they were funny. ^^In France...ew. How are they known as the best romancers in the world? Seriously...I saw more than one French guy wearing black and white checkered pants! >.< Ugh, France is such a dump.
ugh...cut off...I'll update more of my thoughts later if you want for me to.
Katrina