Sorry I haven't written, we've been busy!
We were in London for two days and saw all the sights-Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, Tower of London- most from the outside because it is super expensive to go in them, and the pound is worth almost twice the dollar...We did pay to go inside Westminster Abbey, which was well worth it. Charles Darwin (among many other famous people) is buried there-I never thought I'd see the father of evolution buried in a Catholic church!
A lot of the museums are free during the summer, and I'd recommend the Tate Modern if anyone has a chance to go. We went just because it was free and it ended being awesome-full of Picasso, Dali, Andy Warhol, Chuck Close, etc. We got, of course, fish and chips which was delicious. Biggest disappointment was showing up at the Globe to buy tickets for a Midsummer Night's Dream and it was sold out-even the standing room!
It was fun, but cold and expensive and probably not the best first place to go in terms of building morale for our Europe trip.
Right now, on the other hand, we are in Dublin which is AMAZING. We took a train across the English countryside into Wales and then a ferry over the Irish Sea to get here. We expected to find a little dinghy to drag us across the water and instead found ourselves on an eleven deck cruise ship with restaurants, bars, movie theater and even a casino!
As soon as we touched down on Irish soil we ran to our hostel to change and go to a musical pub crawl that Geoff had reserved for us. By far the coolest thing that we've done so far. The bars that we went to were privately reserved for the group and we were entertained by traditional Irish musicians for almost three hours in the "authentic" Irish pubs off the beaten path while sipping on pints of Guinness. Afterwards we took one of the musician's advice and ventured off on our own to see a local Irish session.
Today we went to Trinity College and the Irish Museum. We then went to the Old Jameson Distillery for a tour. Taking Halli's advice, I volunteered to be a whiskey taster and tasted Jameson, Jack Daniels and Johnny Walker Black to decide which one I liked best. I am now an official whiskey taster (they gave me a certificate and everything!) Afterwards we went to the Gaol (jail) which was also really cool. It was built in 1776 and has seen a lot of Irish history. Kind of eerie... a LOT of people were executed there.
Dublin has been amazing and tomorrow after I drag Geoff to mass at St.Patrick's Cathedral we are headed off to Cork in the south.
Miss you all! :)
It sounds like you guys are making the best of your time- you're seeing/ doing so much! Hope everything continues to go smoothly:)
ReplyDeletep.s. Interesting fact about Darwin!
hi its melissa i loveeee everything about your blogggg i want to be there with you guys i miss you so much! i hope your having a blast miss you guysss
ReplyDeleteSo glad you've had fun so far! I loved Westminster Abbey also and thought they had the best audio guides. haha. My certificate is still in the tube, but I'm thinking of framing it...lol
ReplyDeleteHey Guys...I finally figured out how to do this!!!It sounds like you are both loving your backbacking adventure! It is so fun to hear all about it. Keep writing when you can. Have fun in Germany. Don't forget to give your friends their "Star Burst Chewing Candy". I hope you are relaxing a bit and sleeping. Eat well!! We miss you like crazy! Solon Home Days is this weekend....that's right..we're living the big life too! HA..ha..ha!! Love you..Love you..and we ALL miss you so-o-o-o much!
ReplyDeleteBe Careful..Hugs and Kisses Mom, Dad, Justin and Danielle, Rosco and Kidders