Hi all...
We were greeted by Paris in true fashion...we stepped out of the subway station and immediately saw the top of the Eiffel Tower.
The past couple days have been spectacular. Andrew and I have had a few picnics in the park (one of which included a fairly large bottle of wine...we drank the whole thing because it was a cream wine and it was just so good).
Saturday we went to the Tower of London and checked out Tower Bridge. We were all being kind of frugal and decided we didn't want to pay 14 lb (28 bucks) to go up into the tower, but we got some great pictures of it and the bridge. Then we ventured to the British Museum, and Andrew and I weren't in the right frame of mind for the museum, so after about 5 minutes there, we decided to go nap in Hyde Park. It was cool because they were having a paid concert that had Jason Mraz, John Mayer, and Eric Clapton, but if you just sat in the park (which is what we did) you could still hear the music. We didn't stick around long enough to hear Clapton, but it was cool anyway. Our nap refreshed us and we went to Regent's Park and people watched. The cutest little kid came up to us (his dad said he was 2.5) and started "Shorty Get Low"--for those of you 'old folks' it's a rap song. We then walked up to Primrose Hill on the advice of our hostel people and saw an AMAZING view of all of London. It was neat because they had a plaque that had all the buildings of the skyline labeled. We then wandered around an area called Camden Town--again on the advice of our hostel. It was neat...a lot like the Bardstown Road in Louisville, just little shops and such.
Yesterday we walked around the whole northwestern part of London. We had breakfast in Regents Park (which is my favorite London park by far...it had tons of flowers and was just beautiful) then we walked down to Notting Hill and hit up an area called Portabello Market, which was 3 miles of shops with everything under the sun. Then we had a picnic in Kensington Gardens where we played frisbee, and played with a dog and such. Then, as we were making our way through the park we saw this great amount of gold just gleaming in the sun through a tiny hole in the trees. We went and checked it out and discovered the Albert Memorial...which we were both very impressed with and think is one of London's best kept secrets. After that, we moseyed some more and went and got some beautiful shots of Big Ben and the London Eye at night. We finished up the night walking through London and encountering some very happy Spaniards celebrating their Euro Cup win naked in Trafalgar Square. It was quite entertaining! Andrew took a video of it so we will try to post it. The walk home was longer than we anticipated and our feet were killing us by the time we got to the hostel, but it was a great day. I'd say we walked about 15 miles just yesterday alone and probably another 10 or so the day before.
*Oh, and Moms...don't worry about us and our wandering, especially late at night. There wasn't a time that I felt in danger. London was very well lit and have a very safe feeling to it*
Today we finished up our London Trip by going to see the Changing of the Guard. At first I thought it was a bit overrated, but then one the actually changing started, it was pretty neat. We want to research which guards change...I made the assumption that it was the Scottish Army and the English Army and it started with James I, but it's just a guess. We then went out to Wimbleton...we didn't have the time or money to buy tickets to go, but we at least got to see where it was played. The crowd reminded me a lot like the derby because there were lots of people that were really dressed up, then people in shorts and flip flops. We then came back into the city and tried to see Parliament in session, but there was a 2 hour wait, so we said forget that and went to Harrod's (the HUGE department store in London) instead. It was ridiculously huge and busy...and expensive. We got a milkshake and then got out of there. Then we headed to the train station and got to Paris, and here we are.
OH!!!! I almost forgot...we also went to Kings Cross Station and saw platform 9 3/4. (The platform that Harry Potter catches the Hogwarts Express on). I think Andrew got tired of my Harry Potter references in London, but I just couldn't help myself. :)
I really really liked London. No more or less than Dublin, they were both great in their own way. It sounds like tomorrow we might go to the Louvre.
I have taken over 700 pictures so far. Because we have free internet, I think I may try to upload them all tonight and tag a few. If I do that, I will let you guys know how to get to it.
All my love from the "most romantic city in the world".
Monday, June 30, 2008
Saturday, June 28, 2008
Friday, June 27, 2008
The people so far
Hey everyone, it's Andrew. It's about 12:30 London time, I've got a few brews in me and it's time to update everyone on the people we have encountered
Ireland -
Everyone we had met was really friendly, possibly because we were giving them money the majority of the time. Seriously though, I thought we would meet more crazy drunk's here, but wait until my update on London for that.
The Guinness Storehouse was awesome, especially the free beer and the view of Dublin. The Boar's Head tavern watching soccer with the locals was also another highlight.
As for London, first off, we went out of our way to do the right thing and tell the London customs agents that we were bringing in peanut butter and chocolate and they told us that they would taste good mixed....smart asses :). The first thing we saw leaving King's Cross station in London was a drunk couple arguing with the Bobbies, I guess that's what they liked to be called, and then continued to argue in front of us for a bit. A very nice lady asked us if we were lost after we stood around for a good minute staring at a map in the rain at 11 at night.
We went for pizza after we checked in to our Hostel. Apparently we made the right choice and picked the bar against the window so we could be mocked by a decently drunk person for a good five minutes while we ate. All four of us, including the drunk on the other side of the glass, made faces for a good while, until Stevie had the good idea of ignoring him like a five year old looking for attention, which of course of worked. Great times.
Other than the slightly rude guy selling us our subway tickets, everyone has been really nice.
Oh, and we met a couple of guys from Uraguay, one pretty drunk, the other shy, according to his drunk friend. Hopefully we will hang out with them for a bit.
I'm having trouble typing on this mini laptop so I'm calling it a night. We miss everyone and we will see you all soon.Take care!
p.s. I'm too tired to proof read to take it as it is.
Ireland -
Everyone we had met was really friendly, possibly because we were giving them money the majority of the time. Seriously though, I thought we would meet more crazy drunk's here, but wait until my update on London for that.
The Guinness Storehouse was awesome, especially the free beer and the view of Dublin. The Boar's Head tavern watching soccer with the locals was also another highlight.
As for London, first off, we went out of our way to do the right thing and tell the London customs agents that we were bringing in peanut butter and chocolate and they told us that they would taste good mixed....smart asses :). The first thing we saw leaving King's Cross station in London was a drunk couple arguing with the Bobbies, I guess that's what they liked to be called, and then continued to argue in front of us for a bit. A very nice lady asked us if we were lost after we stood around for a good minute staring at a map in the rain at 11 at night.
We went for pizza after we checked in to our Hostel. Apparently we made the right choice and picked the bar against the window so we could be mocked by a decently drunk person for a good five minutes while we ate. All four of us, including the drunk on the other side of the glass, made faces for a good while, until Stevie had the good idea of ignoring him like a five year old looking for attention, which of course of worked. Great times.
Other than the slightly rude guy selling us our subway tickets, everyone has been really nice.
Oh, and we met a couple of guys from Uraguay, one pretty drunk, the other shy, according to his drunk friend. Hopefully we will hang out with them for a bit.
I'm having trouble typing on this mini laptop so I'm calling it a night. We miss everyone and we will see you all soon.Take care!
p.s. I'm too tired to proof read to take it as it is.
A big "HI" from London! :)
Thanks everyone for the comments! It's good to hear from you all and have a piece of home coming with us.
This has been one incredible week. We finished up Ireland Wednesday and yesterday. We have seen more amazing churches including St. Patrick's Cathedral...although we only took pictures of the outside because we would have had to pay to go inside and tour it (damn protestants...haha just kidding!) AND you couldn't even take pictures inside. We also went to St. Adeon's Anglican church and heard some AMAZING organ playing then we went next door to the St. Adeon's Catholic church. Both were beautiful.
We also toured Trinity College and heard some neat stories about it and the history beind it We also went to their library and saw the book of Kells (an 8th century book of Mark, John, Luke, and Matthew)...again no pictures. :( The library also had what was called a Long Room which is an incredibly tall and incredibly long room of books. It was packed from floor to ceiling with incredibly old books. The Long Room was very impressive.
Wednesday night we spent the evening in a real Irish pub watching football (or soccer to you guys!). It was called The Boars Head and had a great atmosphere.
Yesterday we took the bus out of the city and went to Malahide Castle, which was about 30 minutes north of Dublin. (Which is the picture of Andrew and Ray attached). It was beautiful and well worth trudging through the rain to see.
We did a bit of shopping then hopped on our plane to London. Altogether, I think we all enjoyed Dublin despite the 3 days of rain that we had!
Last night we got in late because we were a bit confused on how exactly to get from the airport to our hostel. We didn't see much of the city, as we were tired, hungry, and it was late. Today we hit the ground running and saw Westminster Cathedral, which is different from the Abbey. It was BEAUTIFUL and the most impressive church that I have seen so far. There was gold and marble EVERYWHERE! They had 8 different chapels within the church, which were all dedicated to various saints. We took lots of pictures of that and it's been my favorite so far.
Then we headed to Westminster Abbey and got to see the tombs of various monarchs of England AND famous people such as Shakespeare, Chaucer, Newton, and Darwin. (Again, no pictures, but I was bad and took a secret shot of Newton's tomb.) As Ray put it, that was the most impressive cemetary that we've ever been to...and probably ever will go to! (There is also a picture of Andrew and me in front of the abbey).
After that we headed on to see Parliament, Big Ben, the London Eye, etc. It was a nice day (no rain!) but a bit on the cloudy side, so the pictures are a little grey. Big Ben and Parliament are a lot shinier than I had imagined and a lot bigger.
After an English meal of Fish and Chips and some beer, we went to Buckingham Palace and saw the guards (which were behind the gate) and the massive Queen Victoria monument We continued walking and encountered guards at the gate of St. James' Palace, which are the ones that you can actually take pictures with. At first Andrew and I were a little apprehensive, but then went for it. We made an "H" and had him be the "I" (hence the name of our blog post). Next was Trafalgar Square, which is the home of the National Gallery. We ventured northbound and got to see Picadilly Circus.
After that our feet were pretty tired so we hopped on the Tube (London's subway system) and headed back, had a few beers, and here we are. So far it has been amazing and I can't believe the trip has only just begun! We have all done well as far as our feet go (we have walked 33 miles so far) as well as our sleep. (No more falling asleep in random McDonalds...which we all did that day!)
There will definitely be more to come.
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
We're here!
We are in Dublin and sitting at McDonald's (of all places) using their free wireless. We had a 2.5 hour delay out of Louisville and just BARELY made it on our flight from Newark to Dublin. The Newark airport is very busy and we had to go to a new terminal after we landed, which was good because it was closer to our departing terminal than it initially had been. We got to see the NY skyline and the Statue of Liberty as we flew in, so that was exciting.
I also saw a sunset and a sunrise on the plane. Andrew got a bit of sleep on the plane, but Ray and I neither one really slept much. It may have been excitement or just the inability to get comfortable. Either way, it is 4:15 right now and we are about ready for a nap....or more caffeine! Our coffee from breakfast is wearing off. Poor Ray is actually sitting here at the table dozing off!
It's chilly and drizzly here today, but that hasn't deterred us from trekking around the city. We have seen some AMAZING churches and went to the Guinness Storehouse, which was a lot of fun. It had a tour telling about the ingredient and the process of making it and such. At the top of the Storehouse is a glass bar where you can see all of Dublin and enjoy a complimentary pint of Guinness.
Since arriving at the Louisville airport, we have walked 5.5 miles. At this rate we are all going to lose weight, which will be fine by me :)
There will be LOTS of picture because I've already taken 150+.
Here is a picture of us at the Guinness place with Dublin in the background.
*Just a side note...if uploading pictures is always this big of a pain--it's taken 15 minutes to try one picture--then we will have to find another way for you guys to see the pictures!*
I guess that's all we need to say. I want to quit "hogging" the computer and give Andrew and Ray a chance to get on.
We will keep you guys posted!
Monday, June 2, 2008
3 weeks and counting!
In exactly 3 weeks from now we will be flying over the Atlantic...that is insanely crazy! We are all very excited and trying to get the last-minute details in order. We still have to book Frankfurt and Amsterdam and one night in Paris and Dublin. We may possibly venture to Rotterdam to see the Red Bull air races.
The closer it gets, the more stressful it's seeming, just because there seems like there's SO much to do. It'll get done and we will be trekking across the pond before we know it!
We have a cell phone and a computer so we...or at least I...will be keeping this thing updated frequently to let you guys know what a wonderful time we're having and let the Mama's know we're okay.
Everyone's comments are welcome, it'll be a nice little piece of home to take with us!
Most likely we won't post again until either the night before we leave, at the airport, or when we're actually in Europe!
The closer it gets, the more stressful it's seeming, just because there seems like there's SO much to do. It'll get done and we will be trekking across the pond before we know it!
We have a cell phone and a computer so we...or at least I...will be keeping this thing updated frequently to let you guys know what a wonderful time we're having and let the Mama's know we're okay.
Everyone's comments are welcome, it'll be a nice little piece of home to take with us!
Most likely we won't post again until either the night before we leave, at the airport, or when we're actually in Europe!
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