Day 13- October 26th

Today we are leaving the Highlands and heading to Edinburgh. I have to admit I'm sad to be leaving the Highlands. I know I have to come back here again someday; I just didn't have enough time here. At first the scenery is still stunning as we drive through the Cairngorm Mountains. The glare is not too bad through the windows, the sun is in just the right place, and I snap some pictures. Parts of mountains looks like patchwork quilts. I learn this is because of grouse hunting, which is an important part of the economy of the area. To encourage the grouse to the area, in the winter strips of heather are burned. Grouse like to feed on new heather. Shortly after learning this we passed by a few grouse, but I was unable to get a photo that was blurry. Next we passed by the River Spey as we drive through the Lecht, a natural pass through the mountains. After this we drove through the valley of the River Don. This is a very picturesque area. Our next stop was to see a beautiful view of Forbes Castle, which is really a tower house. It is surrounded by a defensive wall shaped like a star. We continue on through the valley of the River Dee, also called the Royal Deeside as this was a favorite area of Queen Victoria. We passed by Balmoral Castle but were unable to see it behind the trees. I did, however, pick up a postcard with a photo of Balmoral Castle at our next stop in the town of Braemar. This was a pretty little town and I was able to get a gorgeous photo of the River Dee, which runs through it. It was pretty cold and drizzly here so I hid out in the shops and ended up buying a Celtic knot ring. Back on the bus to our next stop- St. Andrews. We were dropped off right outside the 18th Hole of the Old Course. It was interesting to learn that the Old Course is actually a public course. You have to pay to play, but anyone is free to walk around on it. I took a few shots of the 18th Hole and then Audrey and I took off again on our hunt for photos. We took the long route to the ruined Cathedral that passed along the water. It was fairly overcast and constantly threatening to rain outside. As we walked along the coast we came up to the Martyrs Monument and ruined castle. Finally we made it to the ruined cathedral and abbey. Of all the ruined cathedrals and abbeys we stopped at on the tour, this one would remain my favorite. It was beautiful and I was very happy that we, once again, chose to forgo lunch in favor of walking the town. It was a pretty big place with many walls still intact. They had found some graves here that were pretty interesting as well. We walked through the actual town on our way back to the meeting point. I got some take-away chips that weren't very good, but I was kinda hungry so I ate them anyway. The place I got them from will apparently fry anything and the couple in line ahead of me got deep friend snickers. We passed by a barber shop that had a sign in the window advertising free whiskey with every haircut. I took a picture for my friend Justin as he is a great lover of whiskey. We walked back to the Old Course and looked through the Golf Museum's gift shop. Neither Audrey nor myself are great fans of gold and didn't choose to pay to get into the museum. Before getting back on the bus we had to use the restroom. It was a public restroom across from the golf course. It was the first time on the trip, and the only time, that I had to pay to use the toilet- 30 pence. Once back on the bus I dozed off and woke up as we were driving across the Firth of Forth. The bridge we were on was built in the 1960's and until then you still had to ferry across. To our left was the rail bridge that was built in the 1880's. Andy convinced Doug to stop for a photo stop. While we were outside, Andy told Marcia and I that the rail bridge is so long that they are constantly repainting it. Once they finish one end, it took them so long that they have to start repainting again at the other end. Doug must have thought we were taking too long b/c he sat in Andy's seat pretending to drive away without us. We all had a good laugh and then got back on the bus for the drive into Edinburgh. Doug said he wasn't going to tell us anything about Edinburgh as we were to have a city guide and orientation tomorrow. I'm rooming with Jeanette for the next two nights. I met Jane, Audrey, and Terry for dinner. We are on our own for dinner tonight and not terribly close to the city so we chose to eat in the hotel. The bar menu looked better than the restaurant menu so we sat in the bar. We ordered a sampling from the Tapas menu. We were able to choose 4 items for £10.95. We got prawns in garlic butter, squid with onion rings, chicken croquettes, and potatoes. It was pretty tasty. We hung out in the bar for awhile and when I went up to the bar to order more drinks, Doug was there and updated me on the happenings of the World Series. Then, off to bed.

Hotel: Best Western Capital Hotel. Our room was down some stairs, down a hall, down some more stairs, down the hall...I was happy to have a normal hotel room, actually. Two double beds, bathroom, very much like American hotel rooms. Our room opened onto the patio. The only bad thing I have to say about the hotel is that about 3 am the fire alarm went off. I was disoriented and didn't know what was going on. Jeanette actually picked up the phone thinking it was the wake up call. The alarm lasted about 30 seconds and then went off. We weren't sure if we should be evacuating or not, and I peered into the hallway and no one was leaving their rooms so we stayed. Just as we got back into bed the alarm went off again, this time not quite as long. There never was a fire, just a stupid fire alarm.




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Day 12- October 25th

Today was the most perfect of days, one of the very best of my life. It's hard for me to describe what I was lucky enough to see today. The weather was varied: in the morning we had mist and fog, the afternoon was warmer and the sun was out, the early evening was windy and chilly. But there were no overcast skies, no rain- not even a drizzle- to spoil my peftect day. At one point as drove along the side of Loch Lomond and listed to the song with the same name I was near tears, overwhelmed by the breathtaking beauty around me. If I have a checklist of places I was to go or things I want to see, there are a lot of checkmarks now. As I woke this morning I felt happy and excited about today, nothing could upset me- I wouldn't let it! I had breakfast downstairs at 7am and I knew that was it was going to be a great day because we had pastries on the buffet! The day started out sweet. I happily marched up the bus steps, greeted Andy, and sat in my seat determined not to doze off today. It didn't take long from Glasgow to hit the first of the Lochs- Loch Lomond. Our day was to be pretty flexible, we weren't going to have a major lunch stop so we could stop often for photos. Our first such stop was at a national park at Loch Lomond and I climbed up some steps out to an overlook for a better view. The morning mist was still lingering over the water. While admiring the view a small bird with a vivid orange chest came along to greet us. I managed to get a picture of the bird. All too soon it was time to leave, back on the bus to drive through more gorgeous scenery. You could hear soft "wow"s coming from various people in the coach and I knew that I wasn't the only one affected by the land outside our bus windows. Loch Lomond is quite large and no sooner had we reached its end then we were at the beginning of yet another Loch. Our next stop was at Glencoe and along the way we heard the tale of the slaughter of the MacDonalds by the Campbells, both by Doug and by song. Glencoe is in a valley and the colors here were nothing short of autumn magic. Our first stop at a town is in Fort William. There is no fort left, but I was excited to stop here nonetheless. It was a nice little town and I did a bit of shopping here. I picked up a thistle earring and pendant set for myself, a bookmark for Tif, a pillbox with a triskele on top that matches my neck tattoo, and a Scottish Gaelic-English dictionary to complete my collection. We are off again and Doug tells us that we are very lucky today as he can see the peak of Ben Nevis. As we departed from the hotel earlier in the morning Doug told us that we had a 1-in-6 chance of seeing the peak as it's usually covered in clouds. Ben Nevis is the highest mountain on the British Isles at 4406'. As today is my perfect day it was only fair that Ben Nevis didn't hide from us. We stopped for some photos at a place that had a monument for the Commandos who had died in WWII. I could see the peak of Ben Nevis, but the mountain was far away and my photos weren't especially clear. Off we go again, this time alongside Lake Linnhe and then Loch Lochy. I was able to take photos of both lochs. Our next stop was at Fort Augustus, which, like Fort William, also has no remaining fort. The south end of Loch Ness lies in Fort Augustus! Audrey and I again didn't feel like wasting any precious time getting food and took off to get some pictures. We walked down to the docks and had some excellent views of the loch. I tried to be all artsy taking photos of a boat that was docked there. Then we walked back to the town to get postcards. I popped into the tourist info center and along with my postcards I got a pop-up book about Scotland for my nephew. We only had about 40 minutes here altogether. Terry and Marcia had gone to get food when they got off the bus and it took so long to prepare that they didn't get their food until it was time for us to go. They were pretty mad and ended up breaking one of the rules and bringing it on the bus. I contented myself with an apple and some shortbread for lunch. We continued our drive around Loch Ness while Doug gave quite a bit of information on probably the most famous of the Lochs. At it's deepest Loch Ness is 846' deep! The loch is covered in peat along the bottom which makes the loch very dark. Because of this there is very little marine life as it is difficult for even the bottom of the food chain like plankton to exist. This is one of the reasons why an animal(?) as large as Nessie would not be able to exist in Loch Ness. Loch Ness is 23 miles long and it took some time to travel alongside its banks. We stopped at one point along the loch to see Urquhart Castle. We next stopped briefly in Inverness, the most populous city in the Highlands. I was able to get a photo of the castle here as well as one of the city itself. My only wish for the day was that we could have spent more time in Inverness. However, this time of year our biggest battle is with the length of time we get to spend in daylight and we were headed to a place I was very anxious to get to- Culloden Moor. All throughout the day Doug had been telling about the history of Scotland, leading up the rising of 1745. I was well versed in this bit of Scottish history, but it feels reassuring to hear it again and know that it didn't get messed up in your head. When we arrived it was pretty windy and thus, a bit chilly. Audrey and I ran off again for photos. Audrey has become my constant companion lately and we've had nice conversations. I've felt mostly like a big sister to her and can tell that she looks up to me. Suddenly it hits me, I'm here, I'm standing in Culloden Moor. For the second time today, I have tears in my eyes and I make another checkmark. I sit in the heather, lacking it's beautiful color this time of year, and soak in the atmosphere. Finally, I get up as there isn't much daylight left and I want to get in some more photos. As you walk around the grounds, which were replanted to look as it would have 250 years ago, there are gravemarkers made of stones here and there to mark the places were mass graves of clans were buried. Just as it's time to go, I turn around and get one last shot of the moor, catching a flag waving in the distance. I dash into the gift shop and pick up a small book about the Battle of Culloden, a thistle ornament, and some postcards. We are off again, heading to our hotel in Aviemore called the Macdonald Resort. I'm rooming with Kellie tonight. After checking in, Kellie and I walked down the main street in Aviemore, checking out some of the stores, and then back to the hotel for dinner at 7. For my starter tonight I had the choice of lentil and vegetable soup, some sort of herring dish, or chilled melon. I chose the melon and it came with a raspberry sorbet, but the sorbet was actually a bit spicy. Main courses were a selection of ham steak, swordfish, or stuffed zucchini. I really didn't want any of them as I'm a picky eater, but ended up choosing the swordfish. It was ok. Dessert was a choice of fruit salad, raspberry mousse (raspberry is a popular fruit in Scotland), or a lemon souffle. I chose the lemon souffle and it was pretty tastey. Afterwards I went back to the room, showered, wrote some postcards, and then lights out. Tomorrow we are off at 9 for Edinburgh.

Hotel: MacDonald Highland Resort. Our room was actually very small, there was barely room for our suitcases. I'm nearly positive that my single room at the prior hotel was larger than the room Kellie and I had. Also, there was some sort of party or something downstairs and it was VERY loud and lasted longer than I would have liked it to. The resort is quite big, with many buildings and a small shopping mall. There is a huge pool with one of the biggest waterslides I've seen not in a waterpark.






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Day 11- October 24th

My dislike of the Brittania Adelphi continues this morning. Bags out was supposed to be at 8am and the porter knocked at our door at 7:40 for our bags. I was not happy about this at all. I normally get my bags out a good 5-10 minutes before deadline but 20 minutes was ridiculous and I wasn't finished pack up all the little last minute things I need in the morning to get ready. I told the porter to give me 5 minutes and then I hurriedly finished getting ready. Breakfast was not good and all told, I was so done with the hotel I couldn't wait to leave. I told Doug that so far this has been my least favorite hotel of the trip. He kept thinking that I meant because it was old. I have no problem with old hotels, indeed later on the trip we stayed at even older hotels that were my two favorite of the trip. Finally we are off and leaving behind the Adelphi. Our final destination today is Glasgow and I try to summon my excitement of reaching one of my life's dreams- visiting Scotland. Traffic was horrible, Doug told us that it was half-term for school and many kids were out so families were out on holiday. We drove through the Lake District today, made famous and protected thanks to Beatrix Potter. We passed by Lake Windemere, which is the largest of the lakes in the Lake District. Traffic was so bad that we changed our lunch stop from Gretna Green at the Scotland border to Grasmere in the Lake District. Audrey and I have decided that we are tired of making our stops about food so we have parted from Jane, Marcia and Terry. We walked to the church where William Wordsworth is buried. It is a beautiful church and a lovely river runs next to it. Audrey and I took some photos at the gravesite and then walked to an old school house to buy some gingerbread. The gingerbread there is famous and has been made there for a long time. After that we walked to the other side of the town and visited Dove Cottage where Wordsworth lived and wrote. It was a beautiful day and we still had time left over so we walked over to Lake Grasmere to find a good spot for some photos. Time was running out and Audrey wanted to get some postcards. We went to a shop and I found a coaster with my family's coat of arms. As I was buying this Jane came in and told Audrey that she found a Scottish shop with a great selection of charms. Audrey was collecting charms for the places she visited on her tours. I headed back to the coach and stopped to use the toilet. We were off again and stopped next at Gretna Green. Gretna Green is just over the border into Scotland. The old blacksmith's shop here is quite famous for marrying runaways from England in centuries past. The laws for getting married were more lax in Scotland than in England. Now there is a woolen mill here and some other shops. Audrey and I found a shop that is a whiskey wonderland. They have an entire wall filled with mini-bottles of different brands of scotch whiskey. You can purchase a nice wooden box that has slats in it to make 5 compartments. The box is big enough to hold the mini-bottles. I purchased the box and chose different bottles of whiskey because I knew that this would make a perfect souvenir for Justin. I stopped at another shop and bought a pair of earrings that looked like the Scottish thistle for Tiffany and also bought some shortbread. Eddy had told me earlier that Scotland is famous for its shortbread. Audrey was in that shop buying yet more charms. We got mixed up on the time and Doug came and found us, we were only five minutes late. As we drove on to Scotland Doug played some bagpipe music for us. When we arrived in the city we had a brief orientation tour. We staying at a Quality Hotel- Central Station. Doug joked that the name means nothing and not to expect quality. We arrived around 4:30pm. I have the room to myself tonight. This hotel is even older than the Adelphi. It's a pretty awesome hotel, which turned out to be my second favorite of the tour. It's built over the train station in the city center, but you can't hear the trains, at least I didn't from the various places I was in the hotel. The hallway where our rooms were at seemed amazingly long. When Jane and Audrey came upstairs they asked if there were mirrors, but no the hallway was really that long. I remarked that the hallway reminded me of the one in The Shining where the twins showed up as Danny was pedaling on his trike, asking him to come play. Jane started to hit me. She gets easily spooked and was convinced that there was a presence in her last hotel room. The only bad thing I have to comment about the hotel was that it took FOREVER to get our bags. I wouldn't have minded except that Audrey, Terry and I were anxious to leave and see some of the city before the sun set. We walked out to George Square. I took a lot of photos here as the square is littered with statues of famous and important Scots. It would have been nice to have had more time in Glasgow as we didn't get to visit Glasgow, we just stayed overnight here. Dinner was ok, it would have probably been better if I wasn't such a picky eater. However, it was much better than the dinner at the Adelphi. After dinner they served tea and coffee in a sitting room near the restaurant. Jane, Audrey, Terry, Marcia and I were a bit goofy this night. There was a piano in the sitting room and we all pretended like we knew how to actually play it. Down the hallway was a ballroom where people were learning how to dance. The door was open and we could see them so Marcia, Jane and I pretended to learn how to dance as well. A police officer showed up and we joked that we were getting arrested for bad dancing. None of us were ready to retire yet and we headed to the hotel bar. I got a nice pint of Strongbow, and then shared another pint with Audrey. Terry and Marcia met a nice Scottish lady and her daughter from Aberdeen, I can't remember their names though. They were in Glasgow on holiday. A bit after 10pm we went upstairs to our rooms. Tomorrow is the day I've been looking forward to this entire trip. The weather was perfect today and I hope that it holds out for tomorrow.

Hotel: Quality Inn- Central Station. Room was nice. It was set up much like the Adelphi with a small foyer with the bathroom in a room to oneside and the bedroom in a room off the other side. I was extremely happy to see that my bathtub had a shower, and a real one too, not just some handheld thing. The food was ok, but really the entire atmosphere of the hotel was great. It's centrally located in the city.




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Day 10- October 23rd

Wake up today was very early as we had to catch the ferry back to England. We were out of the hotel by 7am. This crossing is slightly shorter from this part of Ireland so it was to take about an hour less than the earlier crossing and it did certainly seem shorter. I spent my remaining Euro in the duty free shop on the ferry as it was my last opportunity to use it. I bought a Christmas ornament that looks like an old Irish pub, a canvas purse, and a map of Britain and Ireland. I got the map in order to highlight the roads that we took on tour. Outside was pretty windy and cold, but I managed to get some gorgeous photos of the sunrise. I sat with Jane, Audrey, Terry, and Marcia for the crossing. Our ferry docked in Holyhead, Wales. Our first stop was to the town with the longest name in the U.K.-
Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch.
This translates to "The church of Mary in the hollow of the white hazel near the fierce whirlpool and the church of Tysilio by the red cave." I browsed through the visitor's center and ended up purchasing some postcards. I walked with Audrey to a nearby grocery store to use the ATM as I only had about £3 on me. Audrey had already been to the ATM and must have emptied it because I was unable to get any money out. I dozed as we drove onwards, back into England. Our next stop was in Chester. This was actually a pretty neat old town. Doug gave us a walking tour of the city. Our first stop was at the cathedral that was dedicated to St. Werburgh. We had time for a few photos before continuing on our walking tour. We lost Jane, Marcia, and Terry here as they lagged behind taking photos of squirrels. Apparently they don't have squirrels in Australia. We walked along the old walls that were built to fortify the city back when Chester was an important port town. Along the way we stopped at an excavation site where they had found Roman ruins of an amphitheater and then again at some Roman gardens. Next we stopped at some very old houses built in the 1600's, the oldest of which was 1622. We concluded our walking tour here and had 45 minutes of free time. Audrey and I headed to McDonald's because she was hungry and I very much needed a restroom. I ended up just getting some fries. After we had eaten, I was on a mission to find an ATM. Jane flagged us down. She was sitting outside a cafe with Terry and Marcia. Jane pointed out an ATM just around the corner. I had totally missed it because the bank was actually attached to the cathedral! After I got some cash, Audrey and I went back to sit with Jane, Terry, and Marcia. Then we were back on the bus and onwards to our final destination of the day- Liverpool. Liverpool is home to the largest cathedral in England. Tonight we are staying at the Brittania Adelphi hotel. It was built in the early 1900's when Liverpool was a major port for transatlantic voyage. On the first floor there is a massive mezzanine which is pretty fancy and modeled after the smoking room of the Titanic. It's actually used fairly often in movies when they need to film a scene in an old cruise ship. Tonight I'm rooming with Jeanette and our room was very near the lift. Most of us met Doug back down in the lobby at 5:30 to do a brief walking tour to the Cavern Club where the Beatles first played. This is on Matthew Street. Across from the Cavern Club, which is really a replica since the original was destroyed to make an underground trainline that was never built, was a statue of John Lennon standing by the Cavern Club Wall of Fame. On this wall, each of the bricks is engraved with the name of an artist or band that performed at the Cavern Club. Around the corner was a statue of Eleanor Rigby sitting on a bench. We were back at the hotel and dinner was at 7. After dinner I went back to the room as I was pretty tired from the early wake-up. Tomorrow we are off to Scotland!

Hotel: Britannia Adelphi. Our room was very pretty. It was almost like a suite. The main door opened into a little foyer with a closet. There was a door to the right that led to the bedroom and a door to the left that led to a bathroom. The bathroom was quite large. However, it only had a bathtub and no shower. There wasn't even a handheld showerhead in our bathroom as was in everyone else's bathroom. In addition, there was just a thin, sheer curtain in the bathroom and the window looked out on the busy street. The front of the building also had scaffolding on it. I was hoping that we would be gone in the morning before the construction workers arrived as they would have easily been able to see into the bathroom. I was very disappointed in not having a shower as I do not like to take baths AT ALL. And I certainly wasn't going to take a bath in a tub when I was sharing a room with a virtual stranger. The bedroom had two twin-sized beds, two closets, a TV, and a vanity. Dinner was probably the worst on the tour. The food was just not good. What made it even worse was that this was the worst service we had of any hotel on the entire tour. Doug had talked up this hotel and went on and on about how wonderful it was, but to be honest, I very much disliked this hotel and would not choose to stay here again.





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Day 9- October 22nd

Today was our latest wake-up of the entire trip- 9:30am. We start the morning with a city sight-seeing tour and drive along the River Liffey. We went through the Georgian Squares and saw the famous Dublin Doors. I was able to take pictures of a few of them. We then saw the statue and post office that were shot during the civil war between the treaty and anti-treaty factions. After a lot of fighting for Irish independence, a deal (treaty) was struck with some of the leaders of the Irish Independence movement and the English. Some of the other leaders didn't like this compromise as it still didn't give total Irish independence. Fighting then ensued. What's interesting about the statue and post office is that you can still see the bullet holes from the fighting. I was a little sad I wasn't make it back here today to get better photos as the only pictures I got were from the coach. We drove past Christchurch Cathedral and then made a quick stop at St. Patrick's Cathedral. The grounds here are really lovely. There's a garden with a fountain and alongside the walls are little enclaves dedicated to famous Irish authors. We drove through Phoenix Park, which is about 7 miles long. We stopped at the visitors center which had a small museum and a castle, which was really a tower house. Our final destination was Trinity College. I was excited because this is where the Book of Kells is housed. I headed towards the Book of Kells with Eddy, who would be my companion for the day. I had mentioned to him a bit earlier in the tour that I was disappointed that the Guinness Storehouse Tour and Dinner wasn't being offered to us as an optional excursion. I had really wanted to do that one. Eddy told me that his son, Jason, was currently living in Dublin and was going to pick him up this afternoon to take him to the Guinness Storehouse. Eddy invited me to come along. Sadly, only four people ended up going to see the Book of Kells. It cost €8 for admittance. Eddy, Mary and Peter (an older married couple from Australia), and myself ended up going in. The first area was very interesting; it showed how the book was made. Different areas showed how the paper was made (vellum), how the paints were made, how it was written, and how it was bound. There were large illuminated copies of some of the pages as well. Some of the areas even had demonstration videos you could watch. I found the one on the binding of the book to be the most interesting. Later you moved into the room where the book was held. Unfortunately, no photography was allowed here. In this room there was a large table in the middle that was glass enclosed. It contained 2 of the 4 Gospels from the Book of Kells. One was opened to display pages with amazing artwork, the other opened to pages with more text. Even the text was ornate. I couldn't believe that I was actually looking at the Book of Kells. It was just one of those moments on the tour for me, I hate the word surreal but it's the word I'd have to use. There were two other ancient texts here as well. They were smaller in size and less elaborate but still beautiful. From here you were moved into the Long Room of the library. There are a series of tables in the middle of the room that run nearly the length of the room. These tables are also glass enclosed. They contained old texts and first editions of famous novels. It was pretty impressive. Eddy and I didn't stay long here because we had to make sure we were back at the hotel by 1:30 to meet his son. You exit through the normal gift shop. I purchased a postcard of the Chi Rho page and a small booklet about the Book of Kells. After this, Eddy and I walked down Grafton Street. I was trying to find Lush, a store that sells natural soaps and shampoos. I wanted to get a specific soap for my roommate and these stores aren't available where I live. I had the address, 116 Grafton. Grafton St is a pedestrianized shopping street. As we were walking down it, I had looked over to my left and found some numbers, they kept going up, but by the time we got to the end of the street we were only in the 40's. It was starting to drizzle a bit and we were getting crunched for time so I had given up the search and we headed back down the street. About halfway back down the street I looked to my left again, this time it was the other side of the street, and saw that the numbers were going up! Turns out that in Dublin the numbers go up on one side of the street and continue going up on the other instead of alternating from side to side like I'm used to in the states. Now that we knew this, we soon found Lush, just to the right of the entrance to Grafton. I felt silly that we had walked so far and the store was actually so close to where we entered Grafton. The store was pretty small so the smell of all the scents was fairly overwhelming and I hurriedly found what I was looking for. Eddy and I then made the "10 minute walk" back to the hotel. Our tour director, Doug, must run instead of walk because everytime he would let us know how long the walk was someplace it always took much longer. When we got back to the hotel I had enough time to run upstairs to my room, use the restroom, and grab my raincoat. Eddy had warned me a few times that morning that his son wasn't very talkative so I wouldn't be offended. Jason picked us up and took us to the Guinness Brewery and the Storehouse. We went inside and Jason paid for all of us (€14 each) to get in. Your "ticket" is actually this clear object that looks like a paperweight. It has the Guinness logo on it and inside of it is a drop of Guinness. On the underside is a black rubber ring that you pull off and turn in at the end of the tour for a pint of Guinness. The Storehouse is a museum that goes up like 10 floors or so. As you wind your way up the stairs to each floor you learn about how Guinness is made. The most interesting thing that I learned was the the founder, Arthur Guinness, purchased a 9000 year lease on the land that the vast majority of the brewery is still on for £45 a year. This lease was purchased back in the 1740's! About halfway through you're offered a sample of Guinness North Star. It's a special brew that is only available in Ireland. It actually wasn't that bad, probably because it wasn't as thick as regular Guinness. The very top floor of the Storehouse is the location of the Gravity Bar. The room has floor-to-ceiling glass windows with fantastic views of Dublin. I took some photos of the view and passed on the pint of Guinness. On our way out, I pulled out my camera to take a picture of the Guinness sign . An American couple was standing outside and offered to take my picture under the sign if I would take theirs. I declined the photo of myself but still took one for them. I took a photo and then took a photo of Eddy and Jason with Eddy's camera. We drove back to Jason's apartment, which was actually adjacent to our hotel, to drop off his car. Then we walked to a nearby cafe for some lunch. I had a slice of pepperoni pizza. It was ok, but the pepperoni tasted nothing like the pepperoni back home. Our pepperoni tastes much better, in my opinion. Then Eddy and I walked back to the hotel. He was going to rest and freshen up and then spend more time with Jason. I ended up heading back out to the city and walked around on my own four another hour or so. It was dark when I got back to the hotel. I showered and repacked my suitcase. I probably did too much walking today as my foot was starting to throb so I called it a night, skipping dinner as I just wasn't very hungry.





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Day 8- October 21st

We are off at 8am today, without our usual driver. Andy is required to take time off so in his stead we have Pavel. Pavel is from Poland. Our first stop today is the Cliffs of Moher. No doubt about it, this stop was the coldest point of the entire trip. It was incredibly windy and by the time I climbed down the steps of the cliffs my hands were frozen. It was all worth it, however, when you see the amazing beauty of the Cliffs of Moher. The cliffs are a sheer drop into the ocean. As cold as it was, it was crazy to see someone out there on a jet-ski! It's quite a climb to the top of the cliffs, and I wish we would have had more time here as there was a whole segment of the cliffs that I wasn't able to get to. There is, of course, a ruined tower at the top. I climbed back down and warmed up in the gift shop. I bought an Irish-English dictionary to compliment the Welsh one I had purchased earlier. I also found a plaque with my last name on it and learned that it is of Welsh origin. We're back on the bus and on the way to Galway for our lunch stop. Along the way we learned about the infamous Lynch stone, which the locals in Galway told us was just a made up story. We also stopped in a very rocky area called The Burren for a photostop. In Galway, I really wasn't in much of a mood for walking around so decided to actually have lunch today. Jane, Audrey, Terry, Marcia and I found a local pub where I had a toasted ham and cheese sandwich and potato crisps (€4.95). We really didn't have much time here and I never did make it to the Lynch stone. After leaving Galway our next convenience stop was in a town named Killgarren. Of note here is an old whiskey distillery that has been turned into a museum. Out back, behind the main building, were huge stacks of barrels and casks. I walked around to the front of the building to see the waterwheel that Doug had told us about. We were all disappointed to see that it wasn't working. The area around the building still smelled faintly of whiskey and that turned my stomach a bit. It made me incredibly happy that we weren't going to be touring a functioning whiskey distillery. I took one of my favorite photos of the trip here. I was walking down an alley beside the distillery and there were these 2 chairs, just sitting there beside green doors and colorful brick. I think it turned out pretty well. We were driving on to Dublin and I was dozing. I woke up while we were driving through some sort of parade. It was a bit early for Halloween but most people were dressed up. I'm not really sure what was going on there. We got in to Dublin around 5pm. Dinner is on our own tonight. Our hotel was in the financial district, which is where the old docks used to be. I'm rooming with Kellie for the next two nights. I did some clothes washing and then met Jane, Terry and Marcia in the lobby at 7pm. Audrey needed some downtime tonight. We all decided to walk down to the Temple Bar area. It was about a fifteen minute walk. This area is just blocks of pubs, restaurants, and cafes. There were also lots of street performers out and about. It was a Sunday night, but it was still bustling with tons of people around. We walked around for awhile, taking in some of the more notable places like Oliver St. John Gogarty. We weren't really that hungry, still full from lunch, and decided to sit at an outside cafe and have some dessert. I had banoffi for the first time. Banoffi is like a chocolate/caramel/banana pie. It was DELICIOUS. While walking around I had noticed a Hard Rock Cafe down what was described to me by my Aussie friends as a "dodgy" alley. I went in and bought a shot glass for my roommates. We got back to the hotel around 10pm and Kellie was already in bed. I was considerate and left the light off, choosing to listen to an audiobook on my ipod instead. Tomorrow we have nearly an entire free day in Dublin.

Hotel: Jurys Inn Customhouse. The hotel is in a pretty good area of Dublin, being near Temple Bar. The River Liffey is just out front of the hotel. I loved the carpet in the lobby as the main feature of it was the same as the tattoo on my neck.




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Day 7- October 20th

Today we did quite a bit of driving around as we are off to see the Ring of Kerry. This is a roadway that goes around the southwest tip of Ireland. Along the way we had more lectures about the history of Ireland and I felt very proud of myself over how much I already knew. Our weather today is overcast, but no rain, and not too cold. We had a few photo stops along the way. At one point we stopped at a little inn along the way for a convenience stop. The view here was just gorgeous as the sun was trying to peek through the clouds creating the most amazing god rays. I cross my fingers hoping that my photos come out well. The view is of Dingle Bay and on the other side is Dingle Peninsula. Next to the inn is a house and sheep are roaming through the backyard, complete with mini soccer goals. Andy is definitely earning his pay today between crazy roads, kamikaze sheep, and making room for other cars. I tried to take a lot of photos from the coach today, but wasn't sure how well they would turn out, especially the photos I tried to take of the remains of a Celtic hill fort. We had a stop near the end of the Ring of Kerry in a small town called Sneem. The buildings here are all very colorful and the River Sneem was beautiful. We drove through Killarney National Park on our way back into Killarney. We got there around 1pm and had an hour for lunch. Had a toasted sandwich and walked around the shopping mall area with Jane and Audrey. There wasn't much more in Killarney that we were interested in seeing. Back on the bus for the drive to Limerick. Driver was pretty uneventful. We got to the hotel around 4pm and dinner was on our tonight as not enough people had signed up for the Irish Evening optional. Jane, Audrey, Terry and I walked around Limerick for a bit, taking photos of the River Shannon and we had a good view of King John's Castle. We asked at the tourist center for a good pub to eat at. We went back to the hotel and got Marcia and then walked to a pub on the docks called Dolan's. The food portions were HUGE, and they say American portions are out of control! I had a steakburger with cheese and chips for €12. Audrey and I decided that for the rest of the time in Ireland we were just going to split our food. After enjoying the pub atmosphere, we went back to the hotel, stopping at the grocery store across the street to get water and treats for the next day.

Hotel: Jurys Inn. My room has a fabulous view of the River Shannon. I had the room to my self this night. I also had a huge column in my room. I joked with everyone that my room came with a stripper pole!

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