Monday, June 27, 2011

IRELAND!!!


So let me first say that I LOVE Ireland. I would love to go back there for another visit. I mean I know that I am only a little bit Irish, but still I loved everything about it. Dublin itself wasn't as great as I was expecting, but the country side was everything and more. Let me tell you about my whole weekend before I get into any detail and miss parts!

Friday:

Friday morning at 6:30 came very early. Too early. I had to meet Caitlin and Katherine at Angel Tube stop, and we wanted to make sure that we had plenty of time to get to the train station and get our tickets, well we had plenty. Too much I'd say. But we got all the way there, got our tickets and made our way to the bathroom. I never ever thought the day would come that I would have to PAY to go pee. I found it rather ridiculous, because well the reason you're paying is so that it is clean...well it wasn't. We got some food, well...I got some food because I was starving and needed some coffee. I got a lovely fruit and yogurt bowl, and we found a nice place to sit down (on the floor of course) so that we could wait a good 45 minutes until we had to board the train. I have to say that the bag that they gave me for my food was the cutest little bag. Its the small things in life I swear...We were waiting for our pub quiz master Billy, because he happened to be going the same way we were so we traveled with him. He was so sweet, he brought us all food for the train. Not like little munchies (although there was some of that too), he cooked a legitimate meal and brought it for the three of us. So nice of him! We were traveling along seeing all of the sites, taking pictures and playing cards! It was a lovely ride. We were about an hour into the trip, then this lady next to us goes "Um, you do realize this is a quiet car" and of course we had no clue. It was this tiny little sign, and we didn't even notice. We were just playing our game minding our own business, but oh well! We apologized and said that we would be moving to the next car at the next stop, which was 10 minutes away, and she said very rudely "so am I!". Oh well, she must have been having a bad day. We did move at the next stop but there were no seats, so we had to stand until the next stop...We got off and transfered trains so that we could sit and we rode that to Holyhead so that we could get on our ferry. On that train we stopped at all of the local stops, and one of those included the longest train station name in the world. I'm not going to even write it. The picture can explain. 


Our "Ferry"
We finally got to the ferry station, and boarded our ferry. It wasn't really like a ferry, it was more of a cruise ship! It had a movie theater, casino, a bar, it was very "posh". We were on that for about 3.5 hours...which it was fun but we were ready to get there. Of course when we got there it was raining and so cold. We took a taxi to our hostel and checked in! I was surprised at our hostel, it wasn't as bad as I was expecting. We had a room with a total of 6 girls. Of course there were three of us so that only left a little room for strangers. We wanted to go exploring in the rain, so we got our umbrellas and headed out to find some food. We ended up eating at a Chinese food buffet in Ireland...I know. We went back to the hostel after dinner and went to bed. It was a very long day of traveling, and by the time we got back it was about 11pm and we had to get up early the next day anyways. 
After being outside on deck
Our Hostel


Saturday:

All of the stone walls
Once again it was an early morning. We got all ready and headed out to go on our bus trip to the Cliffs of Moher. On our way we made a few stops and as we were driving we got lessons, and all of us were leaning over each other trying to get pictures.The country side was breath taking. I absolutely fell in love with it. It was amazing to be driving down the road and see all of these rock walls built up, even in the middle of the fields. Our tour guide explained that back in the days of the famine, people had to work to get whatever food they could get from the English so they made the Irish build these rock walls. They are the markings of plots of property that have been there for hundreds of years. I couldn't even fathom all of the people and hours that were put into building these walls. They go on and on and on along the country side.  Besides a few restroom breaks, our first stop was an Abbey. It was very cool, except it was raining still at this point and very cold. We got a few pictures, and a history lesson...and headed back on the bus. Let me just say that the Italian couple next to us needed to get their own room or something...they were ALL over each other. I wanted to throw something at them, and be like REALLY!? Later in the trip she was feeding him Cheetos, rather amusing, yet sick. Our next stop was the shoreline. It was great. We got off the bus and it was like I was in New England, smelling that salt water. Oh it was great. I got so happy instantly seeing the waves crash into the rocks, I could have stood there for hours watching that, and listening to the sounds of nature. Of course we had to go though. But it was ok because the next stop was in this tiny tiny little town where we ate lunch. I ate a huge "typical" Irish lunch. It had potatoes!! I devoured it, very fast too. In line to get our food, we ran into this girl who was from Canada just traveling around Ireland by herself for the heck of it. She was a very cool person, I was talking to Caitlin mentioning that I had a headache and she had a peppermint oil. She told me to rub it on my temples and the back of my neck and it would go away...it DID! Great stuff. We didn't have much time to eat by the time we got through the line. 


Lunch that was DEVOURED


We were off again. We made it finally to our destination of the Cliffs of Moher. We were supposed to have an hour and a half there, but we only got 45 minutes because it was so foggy, our tour guide said that we would go to a castle for the other 45 minutes. The cliffs were beautiful once the fog lifted for a few minutes. It was extremely windy. Our tour guide (Tom) said that they had to put up stone walls so that people wouldn't get blown away. Because apparently its not a rare thing there. Crazy. These cliffs are in the running to be one of the new 7 wonders of the world. Too cool. 



When the fog lifted

Just so you can see how windy/foggy


Before the fog lifted


Abbey

We all loaded up the bus and went to the castle. It was cool to see, and that is where I bought my new ring. I have always wanted a claddagh ring, and I got a "fake" one before at Kohls, but I bought a new one. It is my favorite purchase I have made since I have been here. I love it! It was hard to hand over my debit card to pay for it, but I would have regretted not buying it. The coolest part, the ring has an Irish origin, and I bought it from Ireland! I also found there what the Ford family crest looked like, I didn't buy the pin that had it on it because it was 4 euros, which was expensive for a little pin...but I thought it was sweet!
My new ring!



We finally were on our way home. I fell asleep on the bus on the way back, and then we were in Dublin before we knew it. I liked listening to the bus drivers collection of Irish tunes. I wanted to get a CD. Anyways we were back in Dublin, and we decided to explore. Walked around for a while. Finally decided to go to Whelens Pub. Billy told us to go there because he took all of the photographs there, and its just a cool place...so we took his advice (because he's from Ireland) and went there. It was such a great idea! I found an amazing cider that I like, its called Blumers. I was pretty excited to find that when I got back to London I could buy it in stores. Anyways we had a good time, just dancing and hanging out. Watching all of the amusement for the night. Caitlin and I had to go to the bathroom, so we went to find it and we read all of the graffiti on the walls, and found out that that pub is where P.S. I love you was filmed. We weren't sure (so of course we took lots of pictures) and googled it when we got home. So cool!!  We headed home again, which was an extremely long walk, but the streets were still hoppin'. I once again ate, a whole 12 inch sub this time...on our walk home. We got home and went right to bed, because well the other three people were in bed already so we couldn't really do anything.


Pub in P.S. I love you
Whelan's (Pub in P.S. I love you) All three buildings are the pub
Sunday: 

First Guinness
We had a few hours in the morning so we had one more thing on our list to do...go to the Guinness factory of course! It was very awesome, very well laid out. We did the tour, and then got to the end with the free pint of Guinness. I found out that I don't hate it, I just can only drink a very little bit. It is very very bitter! We had to go back to the hostel to get our bags and head to the ferry station. We made it, but this ferry wasn't as cool as the first one...but it did travel a lot faster. We stat in this area with a bunch of comfy chairs lined up like a movie theater, and they played a cartoon from when I was very very little. It was called "whacky racers". I watched about 3 episodes and then fell asleep. We go on to the first train, and then had our layover. Got some food and then got on our last train. The last train was horrible. It was cramped and very very hot. They didn't have the AC on. Everyone was dying of heat. Caitlin fell asleep, and Kat had to sit two rows behind us, so I ended up talking to the people across the aisle from me. It made the time pass, and it was a train ride of interesting conversation. We finally got back, of course a half hour late. I got the tube and then finally made it home. I was so exhausted, and gross. Literally the first thing I did was take a shower. Time for bed. Morning would come early. 




Just another work day. Work work work. Groceries, home. That was my day in a nutshell. The only interesting thing is that it was 86 degrees here today. I haven't seen that yet since I have been here! 

Well I think you are all caught up finally. 



XOXO

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Mehhh Midterm...YAY trivia night!

Of course today was another day of work. If only it was Thursday and I didn't have to work tomorrow...but I do. I must admit today wasn't that bad. Oliver was out of the office for about 80% of the day. It was great. Time goes by so much faster without him there. I did my usual stuff at work today...more looking up companies and emailing them. Great fun. 

5:30 came and I couldn't have gotten out the door faster. I had to go take my midterm...and of course sit through a stupid lecture. I took the test but couldn't wait to get out of there. My essay was so unorganized it was bad. I mean I was writing it and something new would pop in my head and I had to make sure to scribble that down quick before I forgot. It was finally over. It is Wednesday night....so you can only imagine what that means?! Trivia night!!! WOOHOOO!

The Eagle (our pub)
So we quick got to the pub to get in on trivia night, but someone had stolen our table. Its not as though its our table that we just sit at every week, it is OUR table that we reserved. I was rather peeved that they took the table that said clearly on it "table reserved Jessica @ 7:30". Oh well, Billy (the trivia guy) made a place for us...because I mean we're locals now. Its great. We came in about 5th rather than dead last!! We were so excited when he named the lowest score, and the next lowest, and the next lowest, and we were in the middle! How exciting. We are determined to win..actually not even win...we just want to come in second to win the bottle of wine. 

We just booked our tickets to Dublin also. We leave at 9:10 am on Friday morning. I am so excited we are going away for the weekend. I don't know for sure what we're doing yet but I just know that we bought our train tickets!! 

I must also throw it in there that I have been addicted to listening to the Dirty Dancing soundtrack. And on Youtube the "I've had the time of my life" song and video (of the last dance) gave me chills! GAHH I want to go back. I want to wear my "nobody puts baby in a corner" t-shirt loud and proud this weekend in Dublin! WOOHOO!

Well I'm off to bed. Goodnight moon

XOXO

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

I've had the time of my life....

Oh what can I say about the last few days. Let me start from Monday. I must say that a lot has happened in these two days!!

Monday:

I worked. But yesterday was better than most. I was told that I was doing an excellent job and Oliver told me that! I got to send emails too! Woot. Oh and he also commented on my crazy elbow that is double jointed. I was stretching and he saw my elbow do that and he said that his daughter does the same thing! So I guess I'm not the only crazy one. He was in such a good mood, it was weird. Oh well. Ok so here is my ironic story for the day. I was sitting at work and Keith Urban came on and then I really thought to myself OH how I would love to watch "How to loose a guy in 10 days" but unfortunately the DVD is back in NY. Oh well I thought to myself,  I guess I will have to wait until I get home. I got out of work and went to my flat and got my dinner all ready. Then I went to the online site that I go to watch TV and guess what?! The movie WAS ON!! I was so thrilled. It was like the movie gods answered my wish. That was pretty much it for the rest of my night. Dinner and a movie.

Look how pretty!!!



Tuesday:

The O2
I must say that I am proud of myself for today. I did so much, and I was on my own and didn't get lost! I went to get the tickets for Dirty Dancing this morning and I was going to buy my 1 month unlimited card for the subways. That was much more of a process than I was hoping. I had to fill out this sheet of paper so that I could register my card. I didn't know what the post code was though, so I filled out everything else hoping that he could look it up in the computer. Nope. So I went to the Royal Bank of Scotland and asked them if they could look it up, but they didn't understand what I was asking. So finally the lady behind me had an iPhone and helped me out! After about 30 minutes I topped up my card and I was off. Got my tickets and then had nothing else to do for today. So I decided to go to the Titanic Exhibit! It was wonderful. I am so glad that I went. It was in the O2 also, so that was really cool to see that. I wasn't allowed to take pictures in there but I took one! It was the original bell that was on the Titanic that rang when they yelled "Iceberg right ahead!". It was amazing some of the artifacts that they had found, it was such a chilling experience seeing everything. I also bought something!! I bought a tea set to go with my collection. It is a replica of the first class tea sets. Love it!!

The Bell!
My new tea set!



Then I decided to go do some souvenir shopping. I got some great stuff!! Its like going Christmas shopping. So much fun!

Then it was time to go home and get ready for the play. The play was great. It gave me chills. Words cannot describe it. It was amusing though that 90% of the people there were women, and the other 10% were men that were dragged along by their girlfriends or wives. I must say that if I didn't have girlfriends to go with my boyfriend would have been one of that 10%. Oh, it was amazing. I loved the dancing...and it followed the movie! I want to go watch the movie now.

Well it is time for bed. Good night everyone!




XOXO

Sunday, June 19, 2011

Windsor Castle, Bath, Stonehenge!

Last night after getting home from our long day out, I was craving some chocolate! Thank goodness for cake slices!!!
Girls Best Friend

So today was pretty much awesome! A big difference from the last few days, it was actually sunny out. That could have something to do with the fact that we weren't in London. Where were we if we weren't in London do you ask? Well we went and did a day trip/tour from London to Windsor Castle, Bath, and Stonehenge.

My day started at 6:50am, which I find it weird to wake up pretty much when people back home aren't even asleep yet. Anyways...I got all ready for the day and head off to the tube station. I had to go to the Victoria Coach Station, which was only a little tube ride away. It really amuses me the people that are on the tube that early in the morning...they pretty much have been the ones out all night stumbling down the escalators. Rather amusing I must say. I got to the Victoria stop, and had to get my coffee because it was wayy to early to just deal with my instant coffee. Naturally I searched for a Starbucks, but there was none to be found. I had to have Costa coffee, which wasn't bad but it wasn't Starbucks. I asked the man behind the desk how to find the Victoria Coach Station, he told me how to get there and that it would only be about a 1-2 minute walk. He was wrong...it was more like a 7 minute walk. I was so worried I had missed it...but thank god there where signs.

I finally got there, and it was a huge cluster of tourists trying to be the first in line to hurry up and get on the bus, as if it would leave as soon as they got on there. We followed the group of people in front of us and the first two busses filled up. They told us to wait again. We followed more people but that bus was full. We ended up being the last three on the bus, but we still got to sit next to each other! How lucky.

We were on our way! Our tour guide (Lesley) was great! She was so sweet and funny. Would totally have her again. We arrived at our first destination: Windsor Castle. It was very cool but I wish we had just a little bit more time. We had 2 hours, and we thought oh hey thats a lot of time! No. We waited in "cue" (line) for about an hour. By the time we finally got through everything we practically had to run through the state rooms and back to the bus. We got to see the royal quarters, and the queen was actually there! Know how I know? No...she didn't invite me in for tea (although that would be a sweet story). The flag on top of the building tells you. If it is the Union Jack (typical British flag) then she isn't there, and if she is it is a yellow flag (in the pictures). We got to tour through the state rooms, but like I said we had to go through fast. Very cool though. We weren't allowed to take any pictures but I snapped a pretty cool quick one.
Picture inside of Windsor Castle (wasn't supposed to do this)

Royal Residence *where the queen stays*
Yellow Flag!
Yellow Flag!

Next we went to Bath. On our way there we saw a lot of country side, it was just as beautiful as I had hoped!! Bath is a little town outside of London, it is famous for the Roman baths. There is a hot spring that they used for many different things. Of course to take baths and keep warm, but they used it as a heating system for their buildings. Very cool. It is a very cool town on top of that. Nicholas Cage lives there!!!  I would totally go back there to spend a whole day. Or weekend. It was all made of stone, the buildings had such a history behind them, let alone the whole town. There were street performers, and we ate at a cheap little sausage stand. It was sooo good.


Fairy Tale houses actually do exist


Coming down into Bath

Nicholas Cage's house is in this bldg.
That door is his house!





That's talent
Street Performers *SO AMAZING!!*








Me infront of hot spring
Roman Baths (all filled by a hot spring)

With the "Romans"

Making a wish!


Bridge

View as we're leaving


Thatch roof houses

Last on the list was Stonehenge. I'm sure everyone knows what that is. All of the theories of how it got there and why...it was rather interesting to hear all of the theories. One was that giants made it, the other that aliens brought them in. So weird. It actually has a lot to do with the summer solstice. It can also serve as a calendar. Really cool. Too bad we didn't go in a few days for sun rise on the solstice. She said that thousands of people come to see it. It is just very very cool. Of course us being the twenty year olds we are, had to take all of those stupid pictures of us holding it up, leaning against it, etc, etc. It was so much fun though I must admit! At all of these places we got these tour guides head sets, so useful! You got to learn a lot of each place. I only got the head set for the Stonehenge and Katherine got them for all three and just filled us in. But...she did have an advantage being an art history major...like having our own personal tour guide!!!

Those mounds in the distance have people buried there



Then it was time for our hike home, about a 2 hour bus ride home from there. I would say we had a successful day of course. Tomorrow is work and hopefully Dirty Dancing...take two. Haha.




Roman Baths
XOXO