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Greetings fron Ireland.
We finally made it. We'va had a busy couple of days, and tonight its time to rest, wash some clothes in the bath tub (more on that later) and catch up on European TV.
Yesterday we finished up our last day in London doing more of the touristy stuff. We saw the Tower of London, went through the London Duungeon Experience and walked more miles and miles. The Tower of London was a huge place, and pretty educational. Here, I thought it was a castle built in a year and just a really big fancy place to live. But apparently, it's a city about the size of Castle Rock. You could spend all day there looking through all the museums and different towers. It was built and added upon throughout years while being in possesion of different people. We saw the torture dungeon, which was a creepy area, the White Tower and the Bloody tower. We kinda had to rush through the Tower of London to get to the London dungeons, where upon our way, we realized the Tower bridge and the London bridge are completely different bridges (what idiots). The dungeon experience was also pretty educational as well as a halloween fun house with rides built along the way. We learned about the plague, the fire of London, Bloody Mary, Jack the Ripper, Sweeny Todd, and God knows what else. After a point, my head started to hurt from too much learning.
We walked home through an art district and pretty parks, and through the drunken madness of London City on a Friday night, It was bananas. Cars literally could not drive through the streets because people were filling the streets with after work drinks. It's really something you have to see to believe how they do it in London. Had a nice dinner looking out on the River Thames, and got ready to take off for Cork in the morning.
So far, Ireland has exceeded all of my expectations. I love it. SO much better than London. Over there, people dress prim and proper, the casual dress is really like business casusal, and the pace is quite unwelcoming. It was nice to do all the touristy stuff, but I probably would not want to go back for many reasons. But in Ireland, it's so much more relaxed, slower, beautiful and youthful.
James and I came in and rented our Ford Ka (who's name is Dot. I love her). She's a tiny shoebox of a car but she's gotten us out of trouble so many times already. Next time we go driving in a foriegn country, I'll make sure to read up on the driving laws before getting behind the wheel. Can we turn on red lights? We'll just wait till we're honked at. So after a minor anxiety attack on my part, we decided to take a nice drive in the countryside, look for a laundromat, grab dinner and have a calm night.
Here's what actually happened:
Our GPS system talks to us in kilometers, in which neither of us really know how to measure acurately. So we took Dot on some detours and ended up in the city center of Cork, driving in the city madness only after 10 minutes of being able to acclimate to the driving situation. We walked up and down streets looking for laundromats which we never found (and I'm now missing my pajama bottoms somehow), and finally settled on a dinner of wings and nachos ( I can feel my fathers disdain at my having nachos in Ireland) which kinda sucked. But we did pass a cemetary which was awesome cause that was a thing to do on my list. We saw gravestones that were massive and from the 1800's. Otherwise, I think we're done with today. Tomorrow we'll take Dot along the coastline and see where we end up and figure out a place to stay. I feel like I'm homeless sometimes wearing my life in a backpack, looking for a place to stay for the night, but such is the lifestyle we chose. I'm done rambling now, we'll drive safely (or at least Dot we'll take care of us), and I'll update on our whereabouts tomorrow.
Cheers!
Oh yeah- and I'm growing an affinity towards Cider beer. I just tell myself it's applejuice and move on with my day :)
- comments
Bonnie Sounds like quite an adventure in London and now Cork. Did you find any ghost in the cemetery? Take your time and enjoy the drive. Can't wait to see pictures of Ireland.
Sarah Volesky WOW!!! Sounds like you guys are having tons of fun. Brooke when I did drink I liked the cider beers too. Your right they are apple juice just stronger- kinda of. Have fun!!!
Judy What a blast! I'm not much on the cider beers, though. Glad you are having fun!
Yvonne Looks and sounds like a great time! Are you going to see Dublin? I'm glad that you two are having fun and taking lots of beautiful pictures.Will you please bring me back a leprechaun?
Kellene This may be a little late, but you can change the kilometer setting to miles under settings on your gps if you fidget around with it for a couple of minutes. I had the exact same problem in Germany a few weeks ago. (I'm an old friend of James', in case you have no idea who I am)