Dromoland castle, Bunratty, Adare

Dromoland castle, Bunratty, Adare

What a glorious day in Ireland! We picked up our car this morning and started our journey through the Irish countryside on our way to the western side. We were a little nervous about mom driving on the other side of the road this time in a manual car but she did fabulously! She didn’t stall once! Haha! The Irish country is so beautiful and greener than you can even believe. Its hard to even explain all the different green colors in the hillsides. We went to Dromoland castle first which is in Newmarket on Fergus. We knew about this castle because dad went there about 20 years ago and said how amazing it was. And amazing it sure was!!! It was magnificent and mom has decided that she definitely wants to stay and golf there sometime! From Dromoland castle we went to Bunratty which is where a famous pub that dad went to called Durty Nellys is located. It’s a super cute place and we had a great lunch and did some shopping at some stores in the area. I got a beautiful ring with a four leaf clover that has Connemara marble on it, I love it! I also got a sterling silver necklace with an irish cross with an irish knot and a Claddagh on the top, its adorable and I had been wanting a cross necklace so its perfect! We also saw the Bunratty castle that is located next to the pub. From Bunratty we went through Limerick and made our way to Adare where we were staying. WOW Adare is about as picturesque as you can get. Almost all the cottages are thatched roof cottages with brightly colored doors and beautiful gardens out front! It was just breathtaking! Our hotel is wonderful and we have a beautiful suite like room and we are relaxing in fluffy robes enjoying the views of the gardens from our room after a totally gourmet dinner at a little French restaurant across the street! This was pretty much the definition of a perfect day!!

Dublin

What a glorious day in Ireland! We started our day off by changing rooms after moms middle of the night rampage! We got a much cooler room so that’s good! We went on another open bus tour today to see the sights and aquaint ourselves with the city. We saw St. Patricks Cathedral, St Stephens Green, Dublin Castle, Temple Bar, National Museum, Christ Church Cathedral, Kilmainham Gaol, and Guiness Storehouse. We went back to Guinness Storehouse after the bus ride and went on the tour. What a cool place!!! It was 7 stories high and we learned all about how Guinness is made, their history of advertisement, how to taste it, how to pour it, and all kinds of other history on this Irish favorite. We tasted it when we were learning how to taste it and thinking we were going to hate it we were apprehensive, but it was delicious!!!!! After the tour we went up to the top of the storehouse to a bar called Gravity bar where there were 360 degree views of the city, it was spectacular. There we enjoyed our first real pint of Guinness and thoroughly enjoyed it!! It is quite filling though!!! We had lots of fun shopping at the gift shop after and from there made our way back to the area where our hotel is at. We had dinner at a great Irish restaurant where we had traditional Irish dinner and had another beer! I have had more beer and tea in the last week than I have had in a long time!!! We are now trying to decide where we are heading tomorrow before we head out to the pubs to enjoy some more beer and some more wonderful Irish music!!

Pics from Countryside

English Countryside, Blackpool, and Dublin

Today was quite the funny day. We started out the day by driving through the beautiful English countryside. It is so pretty and green. We got stuck on a detour which is no surprise at all with our track record and we ended up on this road that was literally so small it looked like it was meant for a bicycle. So after a momentary freak out that we were on a road not meant for motor vehicles we made our way through the rural countryside. We stopped and took some pretty breathtaking pictures and then came across some cows that literally looked out of a movie. This is saying a lot because normally I hate cows and am convinced that they are going to attack me because they always look at me funny! Haha! But these ones were so perfect, its hard to explain but they were plump and shiny and perfectly black and white. And because we were in the middle of nowhere we pulled off the side of the road right by them and took a picture with them! From there we went to a town called Lancaster which didn’t have much that exciting except for a pretty big castle. We drove over to the castle and noticed some funny fencing but didn’t know why it was there. I then read in my book about the castle and found out it is a working prison, what a good place to have a prison, those castle walls were so high and so thick! While we were driving and listening to the British radio which is super funny because the broadcasters are HILARIOUS, we heard the song Mmmbop by Hanson, I seriously haven’t heard that song since like 6th grade!!! Their radio stations are so random, one minute they are playing Kanye or Katy Perry, the next minute they are playing some weird ass house music by a British artist, and then next minute they are playing something like Wam or the Beatles! It makes for fun listening while we are frolicking around! Once we got to Blackpool where we were flying out we had 4 hours to kill. Our hopes were shattered regarding the hopes that Blackpool would be fun to venture around in when we saw rollercoasters, hot dog stands, and cotton candy, it’s a gosh darn carnival city and I was pretty sure at any minute I would see a clown or someone dressed up as Mickey Mouse. Disheartened we decided to go to the airport and see if there were any earlier flights, no such luck, so what do you do when you have 4 hours to kill and a lameo city, drink beer of course! We sat at the hotel restaurant next to the airport and had a bowl of soup and a pint of Stella! Well if anyone knows my mom you know that she gets drunk after just looking at beer so god knows she was wasted after a pint. So I had a drunk mother, 4 hours to kill, no internet, all our luggage with us, and a crazy random city. Once we went to the airport (still super early but hoping a change of scenery might make time go by quicker) we went to check in and check our bags, what a shit show let me tell you! We were so excited when we purchased the tickets because it was only like 60 dollars each way, well that was until we found out that we had to pay extra for every kilo our bags were over the limit. Well you know my mom and I and there is no way we packed within the limits, but we didn’t realize how much we were over!!! It was a darn joke and im not even gonna tell you how much we had to pay! So then we went to pay for the overage and they tried and tried to run my moms card only to tell us that it wont take it because its an American card, what the heck isn’t this Britain and shouldn’t they be able to take cards from other countries!!! So then we get that taken care of and find out we now have to pay to LEAVE the airport, as in fly away! There was some stupid “airport development” fee that was 10 pounds each which equates to about 18 dollars each!!!! What a joke. So we head to security figuring were gonna have to pay to freaking walk through the metal detectors and of course moms bag gets flagged and they want to go through it. Knowing mom has a dingy brain sometimes ( as she says “its menopause I swear”) Im thinking oh great what the heck did she leave in there!!!!! So after we go through the metal detector this evil grandma lady literally dissects my moms bag, and this is no small carry on, it’s a damn mary poppins bag that could probably hold a small child! After wondering what this crazy lady was looking for she pulls out these TINY TINY scissors that aren’t even pointy at the end, I mean literally they were smaller than my pinky finger. At that point mom got cranky and told the lady “those are allowed I know it, I go through Heathrow on a weekly basis and I know those are fine”. While evil grandma lady goes to ask her superior im sitting there thinking oh great mom went all cruella deville on that lady and now were gonna get our butts kicked out of this god forsaken airport!!! Well thank goodness that didn’t happen and mom was right, her scissors were legal, so we grabbed all her stuff and stuffed it back in to the mary poppins bag and made our way to the gate exhausted from the experience and laughing at what a joke this airport has been. And then we got on the plane….well its already a small plane so of course were like a bull in a china shop with our ginormous carry on luggage but we make it in to our seats without hitting too many people. As I sit in to my seat, I literally recline halfway back. Now I didn’t press the recline, it just did it on its own and would not stay straight up, so I was basically in the poor mans lap behind me! After apologizing for my stupid seat I realize that where the tray tables are supposed to be, there is just the outside of them but no tray, wow what kind of airline is this!!! PLEASE LET US GET OFF THE GROUND AND TO IRELAND SAFELY!! Well we made it safely so that’s good and we were happy to get off that plane and get in to the city. Once we got in to Dublin we checked in to our hotel and made our way down to walk around the city. It’s a great city and the people are just great! Their accents are hilarious and they are such friendly folks! After dinner we went to the pub at our hotel. We had some delicious Irish beer called Kilkenny and listened to some great live Irish music! The band was wonderfu and the lead singer was hilarious. We met some nice people and had a great evening. When we got to our room it was sooo hot!! Hoping it would cool down and getting a fan we attempted to go to sleep. Well I was frighteningly awakened at around 3am to my mother calling reception saying “this room is like 90 degrees, I have never stayed in a hotel room this hot in my whole life!!” REALLY MOM, what are you planning on doing at 3am!!!! Hahaha! So that was our day, tomorrow we are off to tour the city and go to the Guiness Storehouse! WAHOO!!!

Lake District Pics

Lake District

Today we drove through the Scottish country side, what an amazing sight. It was beautiful hills of greens with sheep and cattle grazing on them. We drove the Dumfries and Galloway area of Scotland and stopped for breakfast in a small little town called Moffatt. It was so little and non touristy we loved it! We ate at a total locals joint and it was amazing homemade food. One part of our breakfast we couldn’t figure out what it was and mom tried it and then we asked what it was and we found out it was black pudding, google it, NASTY! I was laughing so hard that she accidently ate a bit of it. When we left breakfast we came across a little parade and there were traditional bagpipe processional, it was so cool!! Once we got through Scotland and back in to England we headed towards the Lake District which is in the northwest. The first town we stopped in was Keswick, it was quite crowded and a little too touristy for us so we went on to Grasmere. It was the cutest of them all, it was the least spoiled of them all. It was literally picturesque!!!! It could have been in so many movies. The third one we went to was Coniston, it was smaller and very quiet, fourth was Hawkshead which was even smaller and then we made our way to Windermere and Bowness. All the towns were so small and cute and the countryside around it was absolutely beautiful!!!! It rained a bit today but not nearly as bad as yesterday and it was actually really beautiful weather. While we were in Coniston we stopped at this little fruit stand and got some fruit because with all this unhealthy British food I thought I might get scurvy at any second!!! Another funny part of today was that we are constantly missing turns and getting detoured on to these small roads and watching our lives flash before our eyes because we are on roads that are supposed to be two ways and yet there is room for about a half of a car, lets just say we had a lot of plants almost taking me out on the left side when I had my window down. For dinner I experienced a popular british side dish called Mushy Peas, which are just peas mashed. They are quite good when salt and pepper are put on them, they taste like split pea soup! All I could think about with all the peas that British eat are how much heather would be disgusted, moosh I know how much you would hate mushy peas!!! I really love the Lake District and could spend more time here for sure! Tommorow is our last day in Great Britain and we fly tomorrow afternoon to Dublin! I CANT WAIT!!!! Ireland here we come! Lots of beer, singing, dancing, pubs, and more crazy driving!!! Cheers!!!!

Edinburgh

Edinburgh

Its raining its pouring the old man is snoring……what a soppy wet day indeed!!! It rained our entire drive to Edinburgh and mom is basically a total BAMF for being such a great drivers in such poor conditions!! It rained pretty much the whole time we were sightseeing in Edinburgh but that didn’t stop us from seeing the city!! But let me tell you if you didn’t know we were tourists before our damn flip flops in the rain totally gave us away. Not only were we FREEZING but we also got soaked and looked like total dumbies!! Note to self, when it’s raining wear closed toed shoes!! We took another one of those open top buses around town but this one had a partially closed top so we didn’t get rained on. On the tour we saw the Edinburgh Castle, Hollyrood house (where Edinburgh’s Duke and Duchess live), the parliament buildings, Arthurs Seat (a mountain top), Sailsbury crags (big cliffs), Royal Mile (a bunch of cute buildings, shops, and pubs), Hollyrood Gardens, Royal Museum, Calton Hill, among many other sights. Edinburgh castle is so amazing and prominent and looks like it was built right in to the hillside. We had tea at a café called Deacon Brodies which was so cute! We are taking quite a liking to having tea and a scone for lunchtime, its quite delicious!! Deacon brody is a hilstorical figure who was the inspiration for Robert Louis Stevensons books like of Deacon Brody and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Even though it was raining it was still a wonderful city with a ton of history and couldn’t be more picturesque. The Scottish people are SO wonderful and I love their accents although at times they are super hard to understand. I was very tempted to buy a kilt because they sell them everywhere!! Hahah! While we were walking around high street (on the Royal Mile, while sits right by the castle, AMAZING views) there was a man playing bagpipes on the street and that couldn’t have been a more perfect moment, sitting on that picturesque street among traditional pubs, looking at the castle, and listening to traditional Scottish music being played on the bagpipes, WONDERFUL!! I really love Scotland from what I have seen of it and wish I was staying longer. Tommorow we are heading back down in to England to the Lake District to some great little towns! Should be wonderful and were crossing our fingers that the rain lets up! Have a jolly good evening!

York Pictures

Another fabulous day!! Our driving is getting better by the day!! However we got a little too proud of ourselves and decided that we could listen to music while driving instead of sitting in silence until the gps lady Fran (that is what we named her) tells us what we need to do. Well that didn’t work so well and we totally missed two different turns today because we were rocking out instead of listening to Fran. Because of this she gets all frustrated and announces on the GPS that she is “recalculating” and I swear her voice gets soooo irritated when she says it! Well she always recalculates us on to random side roads instead of turning us around so we have ended up on quite a few back roads that are sooo narrow but so cute and off the beaten path, thanks Fran!! We drove about an hour and a half from Louth to York today. Oh and one more thing about the driving before I talk about York, it is the absolute weirdest thing to look over and see someone on the left side of the car reading a paper or looking down because your first instinct is “oh crap they aren’t even looking at the road” its like a mini heart attack and then you realize that the driver is on the right. Ok so as for York, what a cool city. It’s a bigger city but doesn’t feel like it because there aren’t any huge buildings or anything. We are staying right outside the city walls at a really cute B&B called number 34. It’s a perfect location and we are only a 5 min walk to the walls. Inside the walls of York is so picturesque! All kinds of Victorian buildings and a stunning minster, its seriously GINORMOUS!! We took a open top bus tour to acquaint us with the town and that was again a fabulous way to see the city!! After the tour we walked around the town down all the cute streets and to shambles street which is a cobbled stone street that is straight out of the 15th century. Then we went to a place called Jorvik. It a museum about the Vikings who used to occupy York. Jorvik is what the Vikings named York. It was SOO cool and it was all about my people (the Vikings were Norwegian!!). It was great history not only on York but also about the Vikings! I had all traditional British food today. For Breakfast I had a traditional English Breakfast of Sausage, Bacon (theres is totally different than ours), Beans (like baked beans which are my favorite, sounds weird for breakfast but I had to try it and it was good!) Mushrooms, Tomatoes, a piece of toast, and an egg. It was SOO much food but I had to try a bit of each because I wanted to be traditional! For Lunch I had my first “pie”. It was a Steak and York Ale pie, its like steak and sauce with a flaky top, similar I guess to a pot pie. My mom had Sausage, Mash and peas with Yorkshire pudding because I wanted to try that traditional dish too. Both were delicious but we were stuffed and probably should have had it for dinner!!! We also tried a beer by York Brewing company and it was great! They had a beer called Yorkshire Terrier (that’s my shout out to you Lexi and your home country! Haha) but they didn’t have it on tap today!! Later in the day we had tea and scones at a table looking at the minster which was just perfect! We then walked along the city walls and got a great view of the minster and it was amazing thinking that these walls we were walking on are sooo old!! From there we walked through some beautiful gardens that people were all sitting on the grass enjoying the beautiful weather. Tommorow were off to Edinburgh Scotland, I CANNOT WAIT!!!!!

Pics from Cotswolds