Links to my photos

So I decided to post the pictures in albums of the different cities, makes it a bit easier for everyone to look at 1 or 2, then come back to them later. You may have to copy and paste the link, but once you have used the link, just click on "My Gallery" and you can easily see the other albums. Sorry, there are no captions or descriptions under the pictures, but you'll get the gist of it!

(Egar, Hungary) http://gallery.me.com/tcreger#100201

(Budapest, Hungary) http://gallery.me.com/tcreger#100208

(Vienna, Austria) http://gallery.me.com/tcreger#100222

(Munich, Germany) http://gallery.me.com/tcreger#100240

(Paris, France) http://gallery.me.com/tcreger#100251

(Edinburgh, Scotland) http://gallery.me.com/tcreger#100265

(Glasgow, Scotland) http://gallery.me.com/tcreger#100273

(Dublin, Ireland) http://gallery.me.com/tcreger#100288

(Manchester, England) http://gallery.me.com/tcreger#100295

(Pembroke, Wales) http://gallery.me.com/tcreger#100305

(Cardiff, Wales) http://gallery.me.com/tcreger#100309

(London, England) http://gallery.me.com/tcreger#100311

Day 25, Friday August 14th. London, England (Harpenden)

I only heard the family leaving this morning at 5 am. Rhys sounded so excited as he watched for the taxi from the upstairs window, "it's here daddy, to take us to see Hannah", so cute!

I slept in much longer then I had expected today, but I think it was needed. I then ponder if it is worth going into "the City" today at all. It cost $19 round trip each day I go on the train (luckily, Diana has given me her underground pass, so that's free to me), but I'm cheap and it's already cost me $60.... hmm. I hung out at the house for quiet some time, just re-organizing my stuff and thinking about what to do. When I decided to just walk around Harpenden for a little while. It's a pretty nice neighborhood. A lot of cute shops and tons of Land Rovers and BMW's around, I guess this is the place to be. I walked passed a Reality office and in the window was pictures of homes in the area, they are all around 1 million pounds, that a lot more in dollars! LOL. But as like other towns in the UK, some of the places close for a few hours in the afternoon and I had just missed the fish and chips place for lunch shift, damn. So I found a bar that had the fish n chips as the lunch special for the day, sweet! Pretty good too. As I went to walk around some more and make a final decision on going into London, my feet were acting up again. I have to carry the big bag again tomorrow and I'd really like to not have issues with walking, so a day of rest was probably in order. There really wasn't much that I missed on my list. Some people told me I really needed to see the National Museum and other told me see the Tate Museum and probably Harrods, oh well, next time I guess. I was also told that on the 2nd trip, it's suggested to check out some of the neighborhoods that are famous, Notting Hill, Chelsea and places like that. So that's a good idea for then as well. The weather today was quiet chilly and gray as well, so not real motivational, lol.

I ended up sleeping for a couple of hours when I got back to the house and then forced myself to get up. I did boring stuff like printed my e-ticket for the plane tomorrow and typed this blog and so forth. I will probably finish with about the same thing tonight, other then getting completely packed and I head out at about 8 am. I'm sure this will be the last post, for hearing about going home on a plane isn't all that exciting. I really can't believe it's over, but I feel like I've been gone for months. It'll be nice to be home! This is one vacation I will never say, "it was too short".

Thanks for reading and following along, I hope you enjoyed my fun and mishaps!! I'll be sure to get a photo album up very soon, with my over 1500 pictures (I'm sure I can cut that down by a couple hundred), and I'll post a link on here.
Cheers

Day 21, Monday, August, 10th. Pembroke, Wales

I awoke to a grey, rainy day, boo! I was to expect it, since that is typical Welsh weather, but I couldn't help feeling just a little bit disappointed. So I packed up and grabbed a "Coastal Cruiser" bus and went to Angle, Wales. It is a little village/town on the coast of Wales and had access to the Coastal Path. This path goes for something like 100+ miles, it is part of the Pembrokeshire National Park, but I wasn't going to do much more then a couple. I had to carry both my bags along the path, so it wasn't going to last a long time. It was beautiful, but cloudy and I'm sure, AGAIN, my pictures didn't capture "My Wales". But I was happy I got to do that much walking, the rain had stopped, just in time for me to walk! When I got back on the bus, there were 2 employees of the bus system and after talking with them for a little while, they kinda gave me a tour. As we stopped in other little towns, the driver would stop long enough for me to get off the bus and snap a couple of pictures, it was awesome! I hope they come out too.

When I got back to Pembroke, I decided to just to jump on a train and head into Cardiff, to hit Hard Rock Cafe #6 of the trip, took about 3 hours . It was located a block from the train station and the bus station was across the street.I weighed my options of taking the train the rest of the way to London about 88 pounds, or to get a bus. At the time of checking at the station, it was 61 pounds. But after talking with someone at HRC, found out I could go online and get it MUCH cheaper. So I pondered my options and hit the McD's for the internet. Hard Rock Cafe was really cool at this one and super cheap for some reason. So I had a steak! This should make up for the lack of food yesterday, haha. People were really nice and friendly too. Something that is not found at all HRC's.

Online, I found a bus ticket for 12 pounds, wow, much better then 88 for the train, so I guess I'm taking a bus. I also had decided by this time of day, about 9 pm, that I was going to stay in Cardiff for the night. I liked Cardiff, even though I was told it sucked, there was something about it that was cool. The Castle was just down the street too. I ended up staying at a Travel Lodge and it was a nice clean double bed room! Sweet, until the parties started, ugg, what is it with people having to party in the street. Oh well, that's my story about Wales. Still very disappointed about loosing 2 days to traveling, but what can I do. I did find out, once I got to Pembroke, that there is a ferry that goes direct from Ireland to there.... WHAT!?!? I told you the people at information in Dublin were horrible. I would have had time during the day on Saturday to make my way South, then take the ferry over. But, I would have had to figure out a time to get to Manchester, and I met so many cool people, that maybe that was the way it was supposed to be.

I skiped a day

anyone notice that I accidentally skipped day 21?

Day 24, Thursday, August 13th. London, England

My attempt to wake up early and spend some time with Rhys this morning didn't quiet work out. Kate really could care less that I'm visiting, but Rhys is having a good time with me. Kate was so very happy that "my Vanessa" (the nanny) was back from being on sick leave. I did get to see them for a little bit while they ate breakfast and then they are off to Portugal tomorrow for a 10-day Holiday with family.

I also attempted to leave the house early enough to see the "Changing of the Guard" this morning, but not at Buckingham Palace, there is another one that is less popular (crowded) that does a horseback parade down Pall Mall at 11 am. However, I got to experience the train delays and cancellations here. I didn't get to Pall Mall until 11:40 and I left a little after 10, ugg. Oh well, what can ya do? So I walk a little ways and decided to head toward Westminster Abby. I had to pass the House of Spencer on the way (family home for Diana Spencer, princess of Wales) and some other ones like that. While walking, I was passing Buckingham Palace and couldn't believe the crowd, what was going on? So I walked closer and found a place, right on the railing of the round about that is front of the palace. Something was a stir in front and I didn't think it was changing of the guards there, it was almost 12. So I asked someone, "do you know what's going on?", her answer was yes and wouldn't say anymore, probably didn't speak much English, fine, so I watched. And all of a sudden the gates opened and I saw the guard, they came out and went the opposite direction from where I was, of course. Then the marching band came out, followed by the less traditional guard, and they marched right in front of me!! It was pretty cool, I don't know how I got so lucky!

Once that excitement was over, I continued to head towards Westminster Abby. Without any distractions this time I found it, and then realized, I had actually seen it the day before but didn't know it. I was magnificent and I went inside (no photography) and it was 15 pounds to take the tour, no thanks, I don't need to see this cathedral that bad, even if it is the place where kings and queens are coronated and where Diana's funeral was. I did get some pictures of the outside thought. It's not as big as Notre Dame, but it is impressive.

The city was crawling with people today, it was a beautiful clear (ish) day. Next stop, Salvador Dali museum (or maybe lunch). I did eat lunch, then headed into the museum. Funny, all the big museums in London are free, all the ones I want to see have a fee. So I walked around for about an hour and a half, then my feet were KILLING me, but it was worth it, he is an amazing artist. So I thought it's be a good idea to get a package deal of the London Eye and a river boat. 20 minutes in line, just to get a ticket!! lol By now it was 4 and I had to take the boat ride 1st, at 4:45 then get on the eye. I found some grass to sit on and kick back in the sun.

The river cruise was cool, because they tell you what all the buildings are along the river and tell you what the significance of the bridges are and stuff. I really enjoy them. I even got a picture of the replica Globe Theatre, that was cool. You can still see productions in there, but it's an open air theatre and no umbrellas are allowed, you'd have to wish on a clear night/day for that show. Then the London Eye was awesome too. I was built in 1999 and opened in 2000 and was only supposed to be in operation for 5 years, it's been so successful, that it will continue to give rides until 2025. It takes 30 minutes to go in a full rotation and it never stops, you have to get on while it's still moving, kinda crazy. Since it was such a clear day, it was perfect for this ride in the sky, I'm glad I didn't do it yesterday.

My feet were feeling pretty good by this point, which I thought was kind of weird, but I had wrapped the bad one in electrical tape that I brought along with me, just in case, and it did a nice job. So I thought that I'd head back to Harpenden, since I did have a few tubes/trains to catch. Trains were still on a delay, wow!

I got back to the house, just in time to say goodbye to Rhys, one more time. Kate was already in bed. And I then just relaxed and left Diana and Julian to finish some work they had to do before they fly out. I got some internet stuff done as well. Then we all had a nice dinner and then said goodbye. I'll be here until Saturday, but they leave at 5 am, so I won't see them again before they take off. It was really good to see them and I hope I get a chance to come back again someday!

Day 23, Wednesday August 12th. London, England

Time to head into the city!!! I got to spend a little bit of time with Rhys and Kate while I ate some cereal and I also chatted with Diana's husband Julian (he was out with work late last night). I then made a game plan, discussed it with Julian, called Buckingham Palace to get tickets for the tour and headed out. It takes about 35 mins on the train to get into London and I then had to figure out the tube lines. I of course ended up on a different tube then I originally wanted, so instead of going to the Old Baily 1st, I went to the Tower of London, it's the furthest away, so a good start. I also walked across the tower bridge and then along the south banks of Thames. I then walked back across a bridge, The London Bridge and jumped on the tube to Westminster, where I got to see Big Ben and the Parliament building. It was so exciting. I had a 2:15 time scheduled to see Buckingham Palace and I didn't want to miss it, I still had to pick up my tickets, so I walked along St. James park and headed straight for the ticket center, just in time to get in line at 2:05!! The Palace was fantastic, but I hear there are other Palaces that a little better. Oh well. So by the time I left the palace, I decided that since Hard Rock was so close, it was time to hit it. This is the VERY 1ST HRC, so it was really cool to me. The cafe and the store are in 2 different buildings, which seemed odd, but the store was HUGE in this one. Of course the novelty of this being the 1st draws alot of attention. The other cool thing to me was "the Vault", this was an area that they keep some really expensive guitars and other things from people like Lennon and Hendrix and it really was a vault for the Royal Family at one time, sweet. It was a small room, but really big for a vault and I had a couple of pictures of me taken on a couch, holding a guitar used by the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and of course, I'm holding it wrong, hail the dork!

Once out of the Vault, I stepped outside to a rain storm, open umbrella, snap! LOL it had gotten a little bent in Wales, I guess and it wasn't going to make it through another storm. It worked well enough, I kinda used my hand to hold it up. Funny stuff though. It didn't last long and I headed over to Hyde Park while it rained anyways. The Diana, Princess of Wales memorial fountain is in Hyde Park and I wanted to see it really bad, it actually was quite a disappointment. The Queen, I'm sure, was in charge of putting as far away from the Palace as she could in that park, yikes it was far. It's a sad little memorial, that didn't really move me AT ALL, this, 2 weeks before the 12th year anniversary. So I slowly walked back to the tube to go see the Old Baily. I pretty much bounced around to all sorts of different spots in the city. I really did have a plan, but that went to hell, quickly. Along with the Old Baily, I got to see St. Paul's Cathedral as well. I didn't go inside either, because it was nearing 8 pm, but I enjoyed seeing them from the street. I then jumped on a tube and a train back to Harpenden to have dinner with Diana and Julian.

By now, my foot was to the point of needing to be iced, hmmm, I think I see a Dr's appointment in my near future. I did have an MRI performed on this same foot a couple of months ago, all due to an old "wedding shoe" incident. So I shouldn't be surprised by the pain. After ice, I soaked in a bath and hit the sack! AHHH

Day 22, Tuesday, August 11th. Cardiff, Wales/ London, England

I headed out early to officially get a ticket to London. I went to McD's and bought it online, 12 pounds! Whoo hoo, that's like $20!!! But it was on a bus, oh well, it'll do. `It was to leave at 9:30 am, so I had a little bit of time to walk to the Cardiff Castle and get some pictures and then back to the bus station, all very close together. At 12:30, I'm in LONDON!!!! Wooo hoo again!

I found my way to another McD's to contact Diana, whom I'm staying with, to find out what "Tube" to take to her house. It was actually 1 tube and a LONG train ride to her place, it's not exactly in London, but it was great. I found the house, because the Diana's son Rhys was staring out his bedroom window, watching for me. He is just too cute. Since the train was so long, I decided that I wasn't going to get into the city today. Diana had stayed home today, because her nanny had Swine Flu and her husband, Julian, had a couple of meetings. So while Diana needed to do some work from home, I offered Rhys to go outside and play. He thought that it would be great to play football (soccer) and I explained that I'd never played before and I needed to be taught. He loved that idea, he also explained that his favorite team was Liverpool and that I was in the right place to learn football! lol (He's 4 1/2, btw). I took some pictures of Rhys playing and that's when Kate (the 2 year old) woke up from her nap. Of course then I had to get pictures of both of them. Rhys then taught me how to play Rugby, until there was a scraped knee and after a brief rest, we then played cricket. It was so much fun and to listen to their little British accents is the cutest thing ever!

So today was my rest day. I settled into my room and sat with the kids while they had there dinner. Then just did computer stuff during their baths. Once the kids went to bed, Diana and I had a lovely dinner and talked for a couple of hours, until it was really late for both of us.

Day 20, Sunday August 9th, Manchester, England

After I signed off of my last blog, I ran into the guy that I had been talking to in the bus station. I was invited to join him and some other people and he bought me a beer. I met Larry (truck driver), Loretta (pastry chef), Alex and the 1st guy was Anthony (truck driver also). There was also a crazy Russian guy, totally drunk, trying to converse in English, but kept jumping to Russian and he was really funny, but was really upsetting some people. We all sat and chatted about all kinds of stuff and when the ferry docked, we exchanged e-mails and boarded our different busses. This was about 12am. Thinking I was going to be able to sleep until Manchester, I picked a seat and settled in. Some guy from France (?), looked like some tough guy from New York, Aaron, started asking me where I was going and all sorts of stuff, even while I had my eyes shut, rude. I guess I should have known that we would have to go through customs again, ugg, at 1 am, what fun! It's really funny the questions the customs guards ask you when you hand them a US Passport. "What are you doing here? Where are you going? How long will you be here? When do you leave? Where do you leave from?" haha. It just reminds me of That 70's Show, "what's your business in Canada" lol so funny. Once we switched buses, to a much less comfortable one, I attempted to sleep, between to seat. Luckily I brought a blanket!! Some guy said he was jealous and said, "wow, you're prepared", I just said, that's backpacking, always prepared!

The bus got to Manchester early, 5:30 am. I sluggishly got off and stumbled around the station for a little while, checked out prices and times of buses to Cardiff and Pembroke and then left. I was going to go to the McD's that we passed just a couple blocks away, but once I got a look at where it really was, I changed my mind. I asked someone at a bus stop where the Hard Rock Cafe was and I headed in that direction, only a couple of blocks! I noticed a Burger King, open 24 hours, on my walk, so for some reason, I went in. There I met a guy named John, he was finishing his all nighter, trying to get ice cream, but they had just switched to the breakfast menu. I also met Josh and Robyn, we chatted shortly about my big bag and where I was going and then they all went on their way. I decided that since I was there, I would get a coffee. Before going to HRC, I changed direction and headed for the train station. I still had 6 hours before HRC opened anyway, so best to get an idea of prices for a train. Whilst walking, I ran into John again, I said hello and he decided that since I was traveling alone, with such a big bag, he was going to help me out. So, he went to the train station with me, helped me figure out when to go south and then convinced me to let him carry my bag, lol. It was funny, the harness was way to small for his build. I stopped for about 20 mins to clean up, brush the teeth and stuff and John sat with the bags. Since he was finishing his night, he kept falling asleep, lol. He was worried about my bags if he did fall asleep completely, so he started talking to a guy named Andy. Both born and raised in Manchester, although John had visited Canada once. Andy thought it'd be a great idea to continue drinking, lol. He also made me laugh when he was talking on the phone with someone and said "I'm hanging out with a guy I just met and an American Bird". I was just so surprised that they actually use that word, not just Austin Powers. SO, we bought some Fosters (haha) and some English hard cider and drank a little bit, yes at 8 am on a SUNDAY! I then pushed them to go walk around, show me Manchester! Well, I'm guessing there's not much to it, because we didn't do much. I did ride on the Ferris wheel with John and got to see the city from above. By now we walked a little more, then hit the HRC quickly and John walked me back to the train station, it was 1:15 pm now, and I took the 1:30 train to Pembroke.

8 HOURS LONG!!! I got to see the Welsh country side from the windows and this train was so old and dirty, pictures were not an option, damn. It was gorgeous, I loved Wales. Although, most of the time I allotted for here was wasted on buses, ferries and trains. But I got to see it. At 9:30 pm I wandered into an Inn and asked for a room. This is where the 1st jokes about my pack that had been said with in ear shot of me!! LOL A guy at the bar looked at me and said, "Good lord, that pack is huge!!" Then sang the theme song to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles! LOL Hilarious... it made me laugh. The lady that ran the place acted surprised that I wanted to stay there, but gave me a room for 20 pounds, that was great. And the room was good, nice shower and I was out like a light!

Did you notice I didn't mention much about food, I had totally forgot to stop for food. I had eaten the stuff I'd bought at the store on the way to the bus in Dublin and I snacked on some wafer cookies that Gaby gave me in Vienna. They were starting to get crumbled anyways, so I had to eat them. I guess this is how I loose weight. No food and walk for 26 days! haha

Day 19, Saturday, August 8th, Dublin, Ireland

I guess we all got to excited in our room about the snoring lady being gone! Right about 2 am was the beginning of the house party across the street from our window, and this building is old, so it sounded like our windows were open. And they had an awesome stereo, an echoing ally and a BUNCH of people. OMG! Luckily, either the Hostel or the Garda (police) got it to stop, but not before the ear plugs went in and the comforter got wrapped around my head again!

I had to check out at 10 am and the ferry to Manchester wasn't until 8pm. Yes, Manchester is in England, but I'm going to work by way to Wales from there, this is going to be fun and a little expensive I'm afraid. Oh well.

I was able to hang out at the hostel most of the day, just reading and trying to use their painfully slow internet. I then decided to pack it up and make the 2 mile jont to the bus station and make sure I have a ticket, better to make sure early!! So, instead of sitting at the hostel another 4 hours, I was sitting there at the bus station for 4 hours. Oh well, I got a lot of reading in. Plus talked to a couple of people and such. It was a little mad when they started queing (lining up) for the boarding passes, but the process to get on the bus was pretty good and it drove to the docks and drove right into the boat. I've never been on a ferry before that is 9 decks high, one that can hold a bus, so it's kinda cool to me. And it's quiet a luxurious boat. Lots of restaurants, bars and stores. Plus, for another 50 pounds, you can get a cabin to sleep in. We get off the boat at 12 am, so no point to me, I can just stay up. They have free internet and it's much faster!! YEAY! Good times to be had by all! Also, since it's an English boat, I have local currency again. I've got plenty of pounds, but I ran out of Euros, lol. That made the last day in Dublin fun. Anyways, that's pretty much my day in a nut shell. I did notice that while I was sitting at the bus station, it had began to rain, so I missed walking in the rain by leaving early, but I think it was Dublin crying because I was leaving! At least that's my story and I'm sticking to it, lol.

Day 18, Friday August 7th, 09. Dublin, Ireland

Today was a mellow day, after another night and early morning with the snoring lady, this time it was making noise in the morning and even calling her Dr. on speaker phone while 5 people tried to sleep, ridiculous. The girl in the top bunk near mine mouthed, What the Fuck... yeah, exactly! Luckily, she checked out and we can all just get some sleep tonight. Today is my last day in Dublin, so I thought I'd just piddle around the city a little bit. Found of that since you need exact change on a bus, that if you had to over pay, you could get a refund with your reciepts at the bus station, so I did that! Then I went to the tourist information center to find out what the options were to get to Wales. The lady couldn't tell me anything, said I'd have to check on the internet, hmmm ok, so much for "Information". I decided after that to just walk around and take a couple of photos that I was missing from the city, yeah, like I need to walk around some more, haha! But I did, it's just been beautiful here, everyone is talking about the fabulous weather we've had since I was here of course! I went back to the hostel and asked them about Wales. In one of the sister hostels there was a sign "Our staff is well traveled and we can help you with your planning, where ever you'd like to go", so I tried here. Wales? No ideas, nice! But they gave me a different web site. So I decided to just walk to the bus station and ask them, it's only like 2 miles away, lol. So I did just that, come to find out, they were no help either. I swear, apparently, Wales is the best kept secret in the world, because NO ONE knows how to get there or around there!! So, I attempt to walk back to the hostel to get online again. I say attempt, because I proceeded to get really lost. The maps they give you for free, don't list all the streets! AND the map stops a street or 2 south of my hostel, nice! So I was way North, really it is pretty funny, now! I asked someone where Dorset street was and I had passed it, awhile ago, oh well. Found my way back, while the sun was still shining, haha, we still had like 3 hours, but you never know. I went straight to the internet and found out that ALL ferries to the UK didn't leave until 8:30pm, frick, so I guess I'm in Dublin for another day. Good news is, that I won't have to pay for a hostel tomorrow night, I'll be on the ferry/bus until 6 am, so I guess the price is worth it. I picked the one that goes straight into Manchester. That was my next destination anyways, so I'll hit the Hard Rock Cafe there, of course 6 hours after I get there, but then I'll head south to Cardiff. Awesome, but I guess the lesson here is not to wait until the day before to make plans. However, in my defense, even over here they couldn't help me get there, how was I supposed to plan this at home? haha

I went to a cute little pub, not far from my hostel for dinner. A pint of Guinness and spaghetti, pretty good. Then I asked the waitress if it was a myth that Guinness is poured in Ireland with a clover leaf in the foam, she said that it can be done, but only the really talented. So once the "talented" guy showed up, I had another. But as she was telling me to wait until the clover shows up more, it actually was disappearing, so I'm not sure if my pictures was all that great, but it was cool to see. I also had a fantastic apple and mixed berries crisp with ice cream and cream, it was delicious. They made it fresh... wow! And I had a cup of coffee, yep, this was my night out!!

I walked back to the hostel to make sure I got my night stuff done before my bunk mates went to sleep. When I got to the room, we all talked about the crazy snoring lady, it was pretty funny. In the room right now is a girl from Korea, traveling for 2 months and writing about travel. Then 2 sisters from Switzerland that are traveling together before school starts, it's pretty cool. I left them to go to sleep and I went down to the internet area to type some and write some and then read a book. I guess I have another day in Dublin, wonder what I'll do, I have no idea... oh well!

Day 17, Thursday August 6th, Dublin, Ireland

After being kept up most of the night by the snoring lady in the middle of the room, I got up a little early to make some noise. I was so glad I still had my ear plugs from the F1 race, plus I wrapped the comforter around my head, lol. Actually, I had to be ready for the tour to County Wicklow by 8:45, so I had to get up early to eat breakfast and get ready. Same breakfast of toast, cereal, coffee and juice, but it's free so what the hay. It was an absolutely beautiful day here, hardly any rain at all and the driver said it had been the wettest summer on record, but I must have worked my sunshine magic again!

Me and 13 other tourists were picked up at various hostels, in a big van, the driver's name was Tom (good Irish name). I believe that the females in my whole family are from Scotland and the males are from Ireland... it's amazing the faces I've seen that look like people I'm related to. Tom was one of them. Any ways, we headed for the hills, it was an 8 hour tour with an hour break for lunch. We stopped on an overlook area, we could see the entire city (all 1 million people of it) and the channel between Ireland and Great Brittan. The green color of the hills was amazing and I don't think my camera did it any justice, just like in other places. We made several little stops during the day, a lake; they are super dark here because of the marsh lands that wash the peet moss into the lake. We stopped at a lake called, Guinness Lake (probably a nick name), it was owned by one of the Guinness family heirs and if you look really close, the water is nearly black and the sand on the banks looks like the foam on the top of a pint of Guinness. It's cool! I hope the pictures post, I have my new Guinness shirt of too! During the drive, we drove through the are where Braveheart was filmed, even thought it was placed in Scotland. We also drove over the little bridge where the 2 main characters from the movie P.S. I love you met for the 1st time. It really was more pretty then even the movie showed. We also stopped to see a waterfall and an area that the locals used to be able to cut out the marsh, make it into bricks and use it to fuel a fire. There are only a few area's they let anyone do this still, but traces of it are all over. After lunch, our last stop was at a village that used to house monks. It was an area that had vikings raid it frequently, but is the only place that the church is still standing today, because they used stones for the roof. We got to walk along a path that went into the forest and again, the colors were breathtaking! The end of the path was a lake area that was also in Braveheart. It was all magnificent and I really wish I had more time to explore Ireland, maybe to see the West Coast... oh that would be awesome. Someday! And that is a threat! lol

I find it funny with these trips that the drivers pick you up on the top of the hill, but drop you off at the bottom. So I walked back to the hostel and just chilled out. I had nothing else to do in the city, other then participate in a Pub Crawl! However, I was told by several people before I left, "do not get drunk and hang out with strangers" and it was only inevitable that the Pub Crawl would be exactly that! So I decided not to do one, darn. So, I went to the little store and bought a few things to eat for dinner instead.

Day 16, August 5th, 09. Dublin, Ireland

Up at 4:45 to catch the 7:05 flight from Prestwick to Dublin. I was stressing out about my bags, because Ryan Air has a very strict policy of 1 carry on bag, so if you have a purse or something, that's it, that's all you get, the rest had to be checked. So, I worked my bag into a puzzle and it was still under the 15kg that was the max for the checked luggage (actually 15.2kg, but they let it pass). So because of these limits, I wrapped my Hard Rock Cafe glasses in foam, that I brought along with me, and packed them nice a tight. That might have been the problem. It wasn't until 7 hours later, and after the flight of course, that I found the Munich glass shattered. I was so sad, damn it!!!!! The other 2 were fine, next flight from London, they are going on in with me in a separate bag, like I was able to do on Easy Jet from Paris to Edinburgh, grrr.

Well... after a car, plane and a bus, I'm in a new city, Dublin! The sun is shinning, the hostel is awesome and I'm ready to hit the city and take my tour of Guinness! When I made my reservations, this was one hostel that had tours your could buy, so I did. A on/off bus tour of the city w/ tour guides, the Guinness Storehouse and a tour of the country side (tomorrow's outing).

So I did the whole bus tour 1st, the lady was hard to hear, but I snapped some pics and will try to remember what they are of. Then I decided to hit Hard Rock Cafe! One of the stopping places on the bus was very close. So I had lunch and then... much to my embarrassment, dunt dun dun... I left my credit card at the hostel. Because Ireland uses Euros, I was down to 5 euros in cash and 10 on my debit card thingy, I had started to use the other card that was pounds... oh crap! Ok, no problem, I have the All Access Card with HRC and I get points for my purchases, I haven't redeemed by points recently, so I'll just pay for it that way. Well, would I be telling this story if it was that easy? This is one HRC that doesn't honor the All Access Card, frick! So I had to walk back to my hostel and get my card. I left my debit card and my camera with them, they were cool about it and knew I'd be back. I was able to get that done, but I was cutting my time close with the Guinness tour, so I'd have to go back to buy my shirts and stuff. I hopped on the bus again and got to the Guinness stop, last bus and there would be no bus to pick me up, oh well, it is what it is! Got there about 6:30 and the last admission was at 7! Good thing, because I found out, I had a reservation for today, yikes.

The Guinness Storehouse is pretty much just a museum, but it was cool. The entire building is like 7 floors and if you look up when you 1st start the tour, you will see that it is shaped as a gigantic pint glass, very cool! Of course I got pictures. It was much different then Budweiser in St. Louis, but interesting. At the very top is a room called the Gravity Bar and it overlooked the city! And your ticket in got you a free pint to try it out, yumm. It really does taste better here, not bitter at all. I met a guy from Poland here too, his wife went to Riverdance and he got to come to Guinness. We helped each other with some pictures and then walked out together, it was really quiet since it was late and the bus driver told me it was really dangerous... haha! So I walked with the polish guy for a bit, then quickly got to the Temple Bar area to go back to Hard Rock. HRC solved, then got on a city bus back to my hostel area and walked up the street.

Tomorrow, as I mentioned, the country side!!! whoo hoo

Day 15, August 4th, Prestwick, Scotland

With nothing scheduled for a day, I slept in and then slowly made my way out. It was kind of nice to have a day to do much of nothing. I did get a chance to write in my journal again and have lunch in the coffee shop of the hostel, a Chicken Panini and a latte, really good latte's here. I finally got onto the internet too, they had a bit of a problem here with the connection. Once I started out to the bus stop, I was really happy to find it was all down hill! I stopped in a backpacking shop to see if they had some good inserts for my shoes, since the Walking Store in Denver didn't get the ones I wanted in before I left. They had some really good ones, but the shape was odd for my Sketchers, dang it. Oh well, it was worth a try. I made my way via bus and train to the airport in Prestwick, Scotland (technically the Glasgow airport, 43 mins away). My accommodations for the night is at a place really close to the airport, but this area is pretty quiet and looks like a big area for golfers. It's a really nice room and it'll be a great place to relax. Internet is free, so I'll get some stuff done before I leave early tomorrow morning at 5:30 am. Some of my friends at home won't even be going to bed yet, by the time I'll have to get up, haha. I had a really light dinner of Lentil soup (kind of taste like split pea soup) and a 1/2 pint of Guinness. I guess it's still tradition here that if a female asks for Guinness, they serve you a 1/2 pint, interesting. The rest of the night will be spent just reading and going to bed early. Sorry this one is not as exciting as falling off a bike or spending 5 hours on the Eiffel Tower, but I guess there has to be a lull before more excitement!!

Cheers!

Farewell Scotland!

Day 14, Monday, August 3rd, Glasgow, Scotland

So after my over excitement of hiking up Arthur's Seat yesterday, today I was in pain, these shoes were not made for going up hills like that. Oops. So I decided the cost of a taxi would be worth it, the train station wasn't far, but it was up hill twice, ugg. So 5 pounds later, at the train station, easy as pie, whoo hoo. I found out that today was a bank holiday and I had purchased a ticket that would allow me to travel at any time because of this holiday!! So since I was at the station 1 hour early, I took advantage of this and hopped on the next train out. I wrote in my journal a bit, then slept some more, not a lot to see from trains I found out, lots of visual blockers. Once in Glasgow, I realized I shouldn't have been in such a hurry to leave Edinburgh, Glasgow was really nothing to write home about, haha.

I got directions to the hostel, got on a sub train and stepped out to find a guy staring at the map looking for the exact same hostel. So we went in search together, but again, it was all up hill and I was in pain. It was a rainy day here, luckily not raining while we walked and we slowly found our way. He was from Switzerland and this was his 1st of holiday, so he had fresh legs, I felt bad that he was being slowed by me, but we were both looking for the same thing, so why not go it together. Found it, it was at the top of a hill, the highest point you could go to in the area, yikes! I decided that since I couldn't check in for 2 hours, I was going to rest, so I just hung out and got caught up on my Blog. This place did have internet, unlike the last, but it was 1 pound per hour. Oh well, better then nothing. I was continuing to have issues with up loading pictures and got very frustrated with that, so don't expect many more pics before I get home. I'll edit the blog posting with pics for each place, so you'll have to check back on those. Well, once I checked in, guess where my room way.... THE TOP FLOOR! 76 stairs! Holy shit!!!!! So I did the small bag and sheets 1st, to make the bed up before I put stuff on it. When I got into the room, I heard a voice, "Hello, I'm from New Zealand, where are you from?" I answered and also gave info on where I'd been and where I was going. I also explained that I had been to New Zealand before and she was a bit disgusted that I only went to the South island and not her beloved Auckland. She then proceeded to explain to me that I was traveling wrong and that I really should pick 1 city and stay there for 4 weeks each year instead of this rubbish. Screw you lady!!! I just nodded, then ignored the rest of her babbling. When I finally got back to the room with my big bag, she announced herself the same way. I just said it was me again. She then decided that my bag was too big and that she was to old to carry things on her back... WHO CARES!!! I continued to ignore her, maybe I learned something from the French in Paris, just be rude and they will stop talking to you! I was still feeling pretty crappy, with a headache and tired muscles, so I just napped for a while.

As much as I wanted to just call Glasgow a bad idea and skip it, I decided I needed to head to the city center to take a look at least, I was sorely disappointed. It was a big city trying to push the old stuff out. There were still some cool buildings, but they were full of shops like footlocker and Guess, not really exciting for a non-shopper. I didn't even go into a single store in Vienna or Paris, I wasn't going to start here. And it was a bit after 6 and most of the stores were closed. I did however stop in a grocery store and pick up some food for dinner and a big bottle of water. The cashier asked if I was from the states and where. After I answered, he said that he loves the Broncos and Avs, but hates basketball, haha, funny. Well I walked back to the hostel, still very disappointed with the place I really wanted to see. But I guess, when there is a bad stop, you do laundry and this place had a dryer too... sweet.

So while I started laundry, I ate in the family dinning room and then sat in the Lounge (big family room) and listened to my ipod and played solitaire on it. A group of people from Spain sat next to me and the girl of the group asked if I was listening to country, it was Eric Tessmer Band, southern blues, so pretty close. We then started chatting and after quite a while, we all went down the street to a local pub for a beer. Regina, Antonio, Fernando and Manuel were there names and I liken them to the group of Me, Andrew, Nick and Eric, it was really funny to see the similarities of the 2 groups in my mind. We met Peterrrrrr, the Smeigle looking bar tender and I was able to translate for him the Spanish accent (she was speaking English, but he couldn't understand) and the Scottish accent for her! It was funny. We had beer and Peter gave us some free Scotch, not horrible and then promptly kicked us out at midnight. We then hung out in the lounge at the hostel until 1 and made our ways up the stairs. One of my bunk mates made some kind of mumbled remark about me waking everyone up, but I didn't care, in a hostel you have to deal with other people's schedules.

Day 13, August 2nd, Edinburgh, Scotland

1st thing this morning was to find an internet cafe, it is Sunday, so that may be a challenge. So headed out and I knew I was going to go visit the castle as well today, so I headed in that direction. Until I saw a sign, "Free Walking Tour", hmm, maybe I should do that. So I joined to group, grabbed some Starbucks before we started (Starbucks in other countries NEVER taste the same) and I learned about the city and Scotland. It was a 3 hours tour w/ a break for lunch. I guess I've brought good weather with me again, because the tour guide kept commenting on how beautiful it was and that it was so amazing to have this much sun! Awesome, the weather was a bit cooler here, but there has only been a slight trace of rain! So the tour walked us past churches, important old buildings, the castle and the place that the author of Harry Potter got her inspiration for the books. We also visited a cemetery and learned alot about the issues between England and Scotland... quite interesting! My tour guide was named Ruth and she was a drama student in Edinburgh, up from England, so she was very funny and entertaining. I also met a guy named Dustin, studying in Oxford, lives in Atlanta when not in school and lived in Colorado Springs for 11 years. He was really nice and let me join him for lunch at the very table of the Harry Potter inspiration, in The Elephant House. It had an awesome view of the Castle and he convinced me to definitely do the castle tour (I started to think I'd skip it) and he also convinced me to skip the "Pub Crawl" that night and go hike up a hill called Arthur's Seat. It is in the largest national park in Scotland and was a super big hill that towered over the city. He showed me some pictures and I decided to have a go at it. So I bid farewell to him and heading straight (up hill) to the castle. Did I mention that Edinburgh was build on a volcano and it has HUGE hills? So 1 1/2 hours later, I was done with my tour. It was an amazing castle and has tons of history, like the birth of King Edward the 1st, by Mary Queen of Scots, and it also houses the Royal Jewels. Along with the rock of destiny and all sorts of swords and other stuff like that. It really was fascinating. So I then walked down the Royal Mile, it was a street that was 1 mile long and connected the Castle to the Palace Holyrood, where the queen stays. They don't have very imaginative names here, with actually makes it pretty fun. I stayed on Cattlegate, next to Grass Market, so yes, back in the day, while the farmers were buying grass for their cows, the cows would be kept at Cattlegate. There are all sorts of names like this. By this time it was 6pm and I guess that's not the time of day when people eat around here, because I had a dickens of a time finding a place. So After getting pics of the Palace, I found a Pub that served until 7!! I ordered the Scottish meal of Haggis and Mash.... interesting. I was told earlier what it was made of, and I still tried it anyway, I guess since I eat hotdogs (sometimes) I could try this. I also had a half pint of beer. I started talking to a lady that was traveling with her son and daughter and grandson. She had a sister in Edinburgh and came back to see her every year, I think. The whole family was very nice and they even bought me an other half pint (I still had to go on a hike, beer wasn't really needed). They were all from a small town in Florida on the beach, mmm the beach sounds lovely and when the lady heard I worked at a bank, she introduced me to her son, whom also works at a bank. Very funny. I had to leave them after a little bit of conversation to head off to this "Arthur's Seat". It was a big hill and the trail was super steep, nearly straight up, hardly any switchbacks. Then, when I thought I was at the top and I climbed as much as I could, I went around a corner and viola, another section to climb. There were some stairs on these hills and many foot holes, so it was easier then I originally thought. I made it to the top, just in time for the sun to go down. I decided not to stay up very long, even thought the view was spectacular, because it was going to get dark quick and I needed to find my way back. Well, Dustin said to me earlier in the day, "my motto is, Never go back the same way you came". So I tried it.... it is much quicker to go over a hill then it is to walk around it at the bottom. Wow, that was a long way. But I found my way back and headed to the hostel. It was a nice night and going to a pub sounded like a nice idea, but same as the night before, once I hit the bet, I was out!

Day 12, August 1st, 09, Edinburgh, Scotland

My flight to Scotland wasn't until 2:30, but there were trains to catch and stuff like that, so I was up at 8 again. Breakfast was the same, bread, coffee and juice, but it filled the hole. As simple as it could be, I packed up and headed out. Found the perfect option to get to the airport, the train... 8.5 euros, that's a pretty good deal. Of course the airport is just a bunch of hurry up and wait and I was there about 2 1/2 hours before the flight. So I got through all the stupid lines, got through security before anyone else and sat and wrote my journal. I was the 1st one on the plane in the group that was 2nd, wow, this is nice and after a short wait for a bus to take us to customs, I was the 1st one in the "other passports" line. Haha, the local passports line was HUGE!!! Found my bags w/ no problem. Uneventful, just the way I like it! Found information and asked about a bus, I really had no clue where my hostel was located, just had an address. So I got a bus and it was perfect. They are soooooooo nice here. I had someone talk to me on the bus, found my hostel and they were super nice. I was so happy to be in a country that spoke English, there is nothing wrong with the other countries, but it's just nice. It is absolutely phenomenal in Edinburgh! The hills are amazing, but that means there is a lot of walking up hill too, haha. The buildings are beautiful and everyone is nice here. I was nearly dancing in the streets I was so happy. I have a private room in my hostel and I'm pretty sure that w/o the bathroom, this room is probably the same size as the Hotel I was in, in Paris! But no internet, darn.

So, of course the 1st stop, Hard Rock Cafe! I walked and took pictures and a couldn't stop smiling the whole way, it's awesome. Along the way, there is a small walking area where they post silly mocking "street" signs for people to laugh at, one said, Parking for Drive Thru Customers Only and others had pictures like a car driving off a cliff and stuff like that. I know my descriptions are not doing any justice, but they were funny. I'll try to post a couple. When I got to HRC, I did forget my HRC card in the room, so had to go all the way back to get it, it was about 10 min walk, up and down steep hills. So, back at Hard Rock, it was a good thing I got the card, there was a 1 1/2 hour wait. WOW. With this card, you get priority seating, so I only had to wait about 5 mins and I was in, haha! I usually sit at the bar, but this place was packed. It was a small cafe, but I think the loudest I've ever been to, these Scots were partying! I had the best hamburger that I've had in months, it was amazing. And the special drinks for the month was a white sangria, YUMMM. Almost too smooth, I really could have done some damage if I had more then one. Well, I got all my shwag and was on my way.

I headed to a park called Carlton Hill to watch the sun set, I was a little late, but it was still nice and I got to overlook the city while the lights were coming on, it was cool. I chatted w/ a guy named Will, from South Carolina, studying in Oxford, in Edinburgh for a school trip. We had a good laugh about how the clouds were very ominous looking and somehow got on a conversation about Elvis and how I must be a closet fan... and just random silliness, it was fun. But then, I ran out of card on my camera (wouldn't have happened if I could see how many pics I'd taken, grr) and I was off to hit the Burger King for internet. Internet didn't work and I just decided it was time to drop off my stuff and try to hit a pub. The only thing I hit was a wall, haha, not literally, but you never know w/ my luck on this trip. I sat down for a moment and fell asleep. I was so tired it took all I had to put the sheets on the bed and get my contacts out, and I was out like a light!Day 12, August 1st, 09, Edinburgh, Scotland

Day 11, July 31st, Paris, France

There was a group of men having a party under my window until way past 4 am, I guess I was next door to a little market that sold alcohol and they didn't want to go to far from it. So I was up early to able to find the place for my day tour of Paris. I had paid a few dollars extra for the breakfast service in the hotel and it really was a few dollars worth. A hard roll, a croissant (and not a great french one either), butter, jam, cheese, coffee and orange juice. It'll do. So I hit the metro to get to the tour place and found it with no problem. Travel tip, it helped me A LOT to use the street view on google maps. When you search an address, you can see what it looks like in a 360 degree view. This was awesome, because I kinda recognized the street I was on and I went right to the place.

1st tour, Historical Paris. We rode in a big bus, top floor, around to the Louvre, the opera house, some churches, some other places and then, took a boat taxi on the Sains River to the Notre Dame Cathedral. It was gorgeous and huge. I met 2 ladies on the bus from the US, Joan from Chicago and Nikki from NY via Florida. I stuck with them for the tour of NDC, but I then lost them, when I went to check something out. They were really nice and I enjoyed having others to talk to. Joan and Nikki, if you read this, thank you for being so nice, it was very nice to meet you! So after a whole bunch of pictures, there was a break for lunch. I went to a little brasserie near the tour office. It was good, but expensive, I guess we were only 2 blocks away from the Louvre, so I'm sure it's a tourist area. I ate a really good club sandwich on toasted bread (or half of it really), with an awful Heineken beer and then the most magnificent lemon pie, wow! It cost me about $30 (American), yikes! So back to the tour. This 2nd half was called the "Seinarama", 1st 1 hour was another bus tour, but to the Arc de Triumph and places around there... I know I should have these names somewhere, but oh well! Then, there was another hour of a boat tour down the Seins River again, but this one ended at the Eiffel Tower! It was unbelievable!!! It was so beautiful and looked so delicate, but was so enormously large and sturdy. The was something very elegant about it and peaceful. I was awestruck. We finally got into the elevator at about 5pm, the group got to bypass a very large line, that was awesome. The veiw of Paris was astonishing, I didn't have any clue Paris was SO huge. I took a bunch of pictures and even remembered to take some video. Then, like some obsessed photographer, I waited 4 1/2 hours for the sun to go down!! Luckily I had my 2nd half of the sandwich with, plus I brought the cheese from breakfast! I only bought a bottle of water and then of course, I couldn't help but buy a scoop of Ben and Jerry's ice cream. Funny, there is a Ben and Jerry's just around the corner from my office, haha.... real try new stuff like, huh? Anyways, I waited and waited, there are only a few benches on the 2nd floor as well, so a lot of walking! I took pictures of the tower's shadow, growing and growing, I took pictures of the sunset and then the sun was down (mostly) and the light on the Eiffel came on. I thought I wanted pics of the city at night, but something said it was time to go. I'm sure I could have done a lot of things in 5 hours while waiting for the sun to go down, but, this was my only chance to get pics of the tower at night, my last night. So I didn't mind. I did have to forfeit going to see Montmate and Versailles, even thought everyone told me to go see them. This was the point to say, it's my trip and I'm not going to make excuses to here as to why I made my choices. I'm pretty sure, as a photographer (wanna be) that my heart sang when I saw the tower all lite up and then when it sparkled, it was magic. Oh, occasionally, throughout the night, they have special lights on the tower that make it look like it's sparkling! I also wanted to go back to the Arc de Triumph at night, so I did that too!

I made my way back to the hotel via the metro and felt like I had a very long, but successful day. Did I say in this blog that I twisted my ankle at the Hard Rock? LOL I stepped off the stairs wrong, so needless to say, after all my standing and walking today, it was NOT happy! The street was just as loud tonight as it was last night, but I passed out and didn't hear a thing, haha