Basically Wed and Thursday in Ireland with Emilie and Thomas was a lot of fun. Wednesday the 29th was spent hanging around town, finding all the Irish factories like Jamesons... but not paying for any tours.
In the morning we found the old reform jail that was closed in the 1920s after the Irish Rebellion and many of the leaders were shot by the British in the back of the jail. It was very interesting and hard to see inside the cells where people had hard, cold concrete cells, yet preferred that over outside during the famine because by law they had to be sheltered and fed in prision. We heard a lot but not too much sank in because it really was forecasted snow and we were in a cold concrete building, wet from rain... Needless to say a warm lunch was our next stop.
We found St. Patricks Cathedral, Thomas St., and just walked around Dublin as a town. That night we found a little bar where the 4 of us could just sit and hang, talking to the bartender and such. The boys had fun esp hearing the Irish drinking perspective and found out they did not know what an Irish Car Bomb was.
Thursday we took the train to Bray, about an hour south on the coast in Wicklow County. A cute small town, but when we found the tourist office the lady strongly suggested we find a pub and just have a long lunch because most other attractions there were outside. I am sure we left her shaking her head about stubborn Americans because we got the map and went for the hike to the next town, Greystone. Not a hard hike, but in the 2 hours or so it took us to get across we arrived cold and soaked completely through. It was fun to puddle jump and we took time to enjoy the view until the last 30 minutes or so when the rain and wind picked up and our goal became to just get there. Again, another hot and long lunch afterwards.
That night we went to the Arlington Hotel for a free Irish music and dancing show. It was really good, but went from 8:30-11:30! Lots of riverdance style and people...
Friday the four of us had the same Ryan Air flight from Dublin to Paris. Good timing for Josh and I to fly in with them since Emilie knows French and figured out how to get us on the bus, metro tickets, and pointed in the right direction :) We left them there at the station and only saw them one other time passing in Paris!
By the afternoon Josh and I found Jaqueline, Martins grandmother, house. So cute and felt a little bad walking down the street in dirty jeans and big backpacks past the super nice cars and obvious money of the area. We dont know if it was because of us, but a few minutes after we got in the house police were patrolling the street!!
Met by her nephew, Pierre who speaks English, we set our stuff down and saw the house. Such an art lover with a 6 bedroom house in Paris, ooo la la - which we realized they actually say...at least in this family a lot. Pierre took us for our first car ride (more like a roller coaster ride) throught a roundabout in the craziest traffic in Paris, where there are no rules...you hesitate and you die, and dropped us off at the Champs Elysses (be careful how you pronounce this because it took us about a 10 times listening to figure out what french people were talking about and a week to say it right).
Some things we noticed about Paris:
CRAZY drivers, you could not pay either of us enough to drive in the round about around the Arc de Triumph. Basically a 5 lane circle with no lines and no rules.
Everyone knows some English even if they say they dont- they just want you to try French first
The pasteries and crepes are to die for- we got a chocolate banana crepe made by a street vendor that only ended in arguments about who got the last bite
Careful of ¨Typical French¨ food- we are learning this more in Boredaux when we eat with the family 3 meals a day and they order for us. We have tried: oysters, raw beef, raw salmon, stuffed duck liver, incrediably stinky cheese, and other foods we did not try to understand what it was. My personal favorites- wine and bread. It is fun to try these though, nice to have a family around to translate the things we dont know.
In Paris on Saturday we found a New Europe free walking tour like what we did in Berlin. Main points we saw were; Notre Dame, the Louvre, Pont Neuf, Palais Royal, Musée d`Orsay, Pont Alexandre III, Napoléans Tomb, Arc de Triomphe, Champs-élysés, and Place de la Concorde. Our tour guide was a 25 year old from Texas who moved to Paris to get his Masters and obviously loved the job- gave us all the information and background facts mixed with jokes. 4 hours of tour walking around and we ended at Eiffel Tower.
Found out it is only about 7 Euros each total to get to the top of the Eiffel Tower if you climb the stairs for the first 2 levels. It was a beautiful, windy night...
time for dinner here- more typical food :)
Thursday, November 6, 2008
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
In Bordeaux!
Wow we woke up this morning with Martins (not sure about all punctuation keys on this keyboard) family to an Obama win. They say about 80% of people over here were for him and Martins mom this morning was no different, perhaps the most excited of everyone in the room. Martins Grandma and Josh were in the minotiry of people here hoping for a McCain win. Almost hard to here though because the French press are saying how the US is the most powerful, important and leading country in the world. Exciting but scary with the expectations the world has!
Anyway, we arrived in Ireland bringing an Artic front and record winds/ freezing temperatures with us. Plus, our full day in Waterford was on Monday Oct 27th which was a national bank holiday. Therefore everthing was closed... lots of time just walking around the city. They had kept some of the old walls the Vikings put up which were just cool to see...
By 3 pm we found a pub that was warm and spent the rest of the day talking to Irish people, trying some Cider (comes on tap and served cold! but sweet n good) and eventually buying time until 9;30 when live traditional Irish men came on for some live music. We were the only Americans in the pub, and a elementary school principal who we began talking to during the music said she pinned us as ¨Yankees¨as soon as she overheard us talking. Everyone was so nice there though and had a sense of humor which made just chatting with anyone and everyone more fun.
We did notice everything was SO expensive there, and the principal told us the minimum wage was 11 Euro an hour! Tuesday morning we caught a bus to Dublin. Next time we return to Ireland we would take the risk of driving on the left to rent a car. The majority of Ireland you cannot reach by any other way. A lady on the ferry over said the infrastructure is 20 years behind other EU Countries.
Once in Dublin we found our hostel and room, sharing a bunk room with 8 other guys for the first night (a few girls came the other nights). Quickly online Josh found a small town 30 minutes away by train on the coast called Howth. It is a beautiful fishing town where we actually talked a few minutes to prawn fishermen and Josh got to see the differences in the fishing boats. We found the cliff hike and through wind, hail, rain and sun we saw amazing views for probably 2 hours. Back to Dublin and met up with Emilie and Thomas, staying at a nice hotel around the corner from us, for the rest of Ireland!
More to come later, just has a criossant breakfast and going to see somewhere amazing with Martins mom! Oh since Martin cant drive over here yet, you need to be 18, Josh drove us around in their family car to a soccer game they played in and into town! A little stressful but funny from the backseat.
Anyway, we arrived in Ireland bringing an Artic front and record winds/ freezing temperatures with us. Plus, our full day in Waterford was on Monday Oct 27th which was a national bank holiday. Therefore everthing was closed... lots of time just walking around the city. They had kept some of the old walls the Vikings put up which were just cool to see...
By 3 pm we found a pub that was warm and spent the rest of the day talking to Irish people, trying some Cider (comes on tap and served cold! but sweet n good) and eventually buying time until 9;30 when live traditional Irish men came on for some live music. We were the only Americans in the pub, and a elementary school principal who we began talking to during the music said she pinned us as ¨Yankees¨as soon as she overheard us talking. Everyone was so nice there though and had a sense of humor which made just chatting with anyone and everyone more fun.
We did notice everything was SO expensive there, and the principal told us the minimum wage was 11 Euro an hour! Tuesday morning we caught a bus to Dublin. Next time we return to Ireland we would take the risk of driving on the left to rent a car. The majority of Ireland you cannot reach by any other way. A lady on the ferry over said the infrastructure is 20 years behind other EU Countries.
Once in Dublin we found our hostel and room, sharing a bunk room with 8 other guys for the first night (a few girls came the other nights). Quickly online Josh found a small town 30 minutes away by train on the coast called Howth. It is a beautiful fishing town where we actually talked a few minutes to prawn fishermen and Josh got to see the differences in the fishing boats. We found the cliff hike and through wind, hail, rain and sun we saw amazing views for probably 2 hours. Back to Dublin and met up with Emilie and Thomas, staying at a nice hotel around the corner from us, for the rest of Ireland!
More to come later, just has a criossant breakfast and going to see somewhere amazing with Martins mom! Oh since Martin cant drive over here yet, you need to be 18, Josh drove us around in their family car to a soccer game they played in and into town! A little stressful but funny from the backseat.
Monday, November 3, 2008
Catch up!
Hey all, obviously we have been putting sight seeing and sleeping on top priority vs writing in here, but our time has continued to be amazing!
London worked out perfectly couch surfing with Kristy, a teacher in Slough-just west of London- who is over here for a year or two teaching secondary school. We arrived exhausted to her flat friday after the long night on the bus- still feeling rather drugged by tylenol pm. She let us into her place to sleep before an afternoon of seeing London.
We made it downtown, by way of figuring out HOW expensive it was to travel into and out of the city.
It was a BEAUTIFUL Friday afternoon for our ¨self guided¨ tour of London starting at Victoria Station/ Buckingham palace through to London Bridge- really not that cool to see :(. We walked by way of Westminister Abby, Parliment area, parks, the London Eye, Big Ben and the most inventive versions of the ¨silver¨ man where you give them money and they move, dance, talk, bicycle... they have stepped it up a notch. The English pubs were PACKED and everyone was wearing their sheik black outfits. Feeling rather confident on the subway system- English putting us back in our comfort zone- we found Bond street :)
Friday night we met up with Kristy and her friends to see a night out Windsor style- complete with Christmas music in the club! They are apparently very into the movie Love Actually and so no matter the season, Christmas music from the movie is appropriate.
Saturday Kristy took us around Windsor in the daylight- only 10 minutes by train. We saw the Windsor Wheel, a smaller millenium version of the London Eye for only like 8 Euros! We didnt try it. The Queen was in the castle because her flag was flying, no royalty sightings this time though. We got lunch in a pub right across the street from the castle where we tried ¨brown sauce¨- not bad but not good...- and Josh got his official English breakfast complete with baked beans.
We walked into Eaton, which is so close to Windsor you literally cant drive directly between them, where Eaton College is. The mandandatory dress code was hanging in some shop windows- a full suit complete with tails! Cant imagine wearing that to class.
Saturday afternoon we found out there was a soccer game at Reading (pronounced like the color red), about 30 minutes by train away vs Queens Park so this was our chance for Joshs soccer game. We actually had tickets to a Manchester United v. Everton in Liverpool, but couldnt get there for the game (too far in distance for too much money). These teams are like minor leagues though and still over 20,000 people were in the stands! The game ended in a tie 0-0 but we met friends at half time and caught onto the clapping cheers and therefore consider ourselves real Reading fans :)
Sunday we left Slough at 8:30am for a train ride through Wales, to the Fishguard Harbor (at almost 3pm) and then onto a ferry to Ireland. The first hour or so on the ferry was a blast; I checked out the amazing and windy coastline of Wales, joined Josh watching the soccer games, and explored. It was like a mini cruise ship with shopping, bar, food court, TVs, cabins, kids areas...The sea was rough though and after a pre-made sandwhich lunch and helping a little boy who threw up all over the floor, I lost my own sea legs and lunch. We were very glad to arrive in Rosslare, Ireland and after an hour bus ride we got to Waterford!
Waterford in the oldest town in Ireland founded by the Vikings in 800 something and now famous for their crystal (we didnt go in the factory though).
Leaving Paris tomorrow for Bordeaux- hopefully then will catch up on Ireland and Paris!
Picture links for those with out facebook:
Germany: Frankfurt and Hildesheim: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2150899&l=1a7ec&id=19714949
Berlin: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2151693&l=301db&id=19714949
Stockholm: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2151839&l=e9c39&id=19714949
London: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2153972&l=7827b&id=19714949
Amsterdam: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2153974&l=5a920&id=19714949Advertise
Belguim; Brussels, Brugge, and a Ghent park bench: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2153978&l=74d2f&id=19714949
Ireland: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2154959&l=90c12&id=19714949
Paris: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2154975&l=8c7f1&id=19714949
I hope those work, Good Night
London worked out perfectly couch surfing with Kristy, a teacher in Slough-just west of London- who is over here for a year or two teaching secondary school. We arrived exhausted to her flat friday after the long night on the bus- still feeling rather drugged by tylenol pm. She let us into her place to sleep before an afternoon of seeing London.
We made it downtown, by way of figuring out HOW expensive it was to travel into and out of the city.
It was a BEAUTIFUL Friday afternoon for our ¨self guided¨ tour of London starting at Victoria Station/ Buckingham palace through to London Bridge- really not that cool to see :(. We walked by way of Westminister Abby, Parliment area, parks, the London Eye, Big Ben and the most inventive versions of the ¨silver¨ man where you give them money and they move, dance, talk, bicycle... they have stepped it up a notch. The English pubs were PACKED and everyone was wearing their sheik black outfits. Feeling rather confident on the subway system- English putting us back in our comfort zone- we found Bond street :)
Friday night we met up with Kristy and her friends to see a night out Windsor style- complete with Christmas music in the club! They are apparently very into the movie Love Actually and so no matter the season, Christmas music from the movie is appropriate.
Saturday Kristy took us around Windsor in the daylight- only 10 minutes by train. We saw the Windsor Wheel, a smaller millenium version of the London Eye for only like 8 Euros! We didnt try it. The Queen was in the castle because her flag was flying, no royalty sightings this time though. We got lunch in a pub right across the street from the castle where we tried ¨brown sauce¨- not bad but not good...- and Josh got his official English breakfast complete with baked beans.
We walked into Eaton, which is so close to Windsor you literally cant drive directly between them, where Eaton College is. The mandandatory dress code was hanging in some shop windows- a full suit complete with tails! Cant imagine wearing that to class.
Saturday afternoon we found out there was a soccer game at Reading (pronounced like the color red), about 30 minutes by train away vs Queens Park so this was our chance for Joshs soccer game. We actually had tickets to a Manchester United v. Everton in Liverpool, but couldnt get there for the game (too far in distance for too much money). These teams are like minor leagues though and still over 20,000 people were in the stands! The game ended in a tie 0-0 but we met friends at half time and caught onto the clapping cheers and therefore consider ourselves real Reading fans :)
Sunday we left Slough at 8:30am for a train ride through Wales, to the Fishguard Harbor (at almost 3pm) and then onto a ferry to Ireland. The first hour or so on the ferry was a blast; I checked out the amazing and windy coastline of Wales, joined Josh watching the soccer games, and explored. It was like a mini cruise ship with shopping, bar, food court, TVs, cabins, kids areas...The sea was rough though and after a pre-made sandwhich lunch and helping a little boy who threw up all over the floor, I lost my own sea legs and lunch. We were very glad to arrive in Rosslare, Ireland and after an hour bus ride we got to Waterford!
Waterford in the oldest town in Ireland founded by the Vikings in 800 something and now famous for their crystal (we didnt go in the factory though).
Leaving Paris tomorrow for Bordeaux- hopefully then will catch up on Ireland and Paris!
Picture links for those with out facebook:
Germany: Frankfurt and Hildesheim: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2150899&l=1a7ec&id=19714949
Berlin: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2151693&l=301db&id=19714949
Stockholm: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2151839&l=e9c39&id=19714949
London: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2153972&l=7827b&id=19714949
Amsterdam: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2153974&l=5a920&id=19714949Advertise
Belguim; Brussels, Brugge, and a Ghent park bench: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2153978&l=74d2f&id=19714949
Ireland: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2154959&l=90c12&id=19714949
Paris: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2154975&l=8c7f1&id=19714949
I hope those work, Good Night
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