I need to wrap up my vacation story, so I can move on to what's going on now!

Here's what else we did on our vacation in pictures:

Good bye Ireland! I'll miss you so much!


Hello Holyhead, Wales!


My dream house on the sea cliffs in Holyhead.


Caernarfon Castle


Beautiful Bath


And the Roman Baths of Bath


Abbey where Harry Potter was filmed!


A friendly robin at tea time.


Sheep among monolithic stones in Avebury. (I was just happy to walk around sheep, finally)


More stones


Stonehenge. Eh... small


Jane Austen's House! Oh goodness!


Arundel Castle. Mom used to work in Arundel and we visited her old flat.

I don't have the pictures of Briton for some odd reason, but we went there, too.


We got to London just in time for ANOTHER gay pride parade. What's going on?!


Eleanor on the Tube (I later found out that you're strictly not allowed to take pictures in the stations or on the trains - oops)


Our first fire alarm at about 3 in the morning. The next came at 5. Ugh.


The Rosetta Stone in the British Museum (sorry it's sideways, but I could figure out how to flip it on this computer)


The beginning of "Love's Labour's Lost" at Shakespeare's Globe Theater. Awesome show!


Moving in! My dorm room at the University College of London (it was actually right down the street from our hotel). The floor is slanted but not this much (I'll get this figured out soon enough!)


There is a big iron burn in the middle of my carpet.


The other side of my room.


Saying goodbye to Mom and Eleanor at their hotel room the day before they left.


Eleanor was very tired. It's been a long, exhausting trip. But it's also been such a blessing.

I'm so grateful for this trip with Mom and Eleanor. It's something we hadn't done in a long time and it was a really special thing that we could come here. Part of me still can't believe that we did it all. And now that I'm here, studying in London, it's so strange to know that Mom and Eleanor are actually an ocean away from me. Miss them desperately already (and I miss you, too!). To all who help us get here and who helped me my month in London, thank you so much. This experience has changed my life so much for the better. And I still have another four weeks to go!

Dublin Part Two ... and everything else!

I'm sorry I haven't updated this blog in so long, but a lot has been going on and none of it has involved much wireless internet access (plus, I've been to exhausted to type).

To start, I'm going to jump ahead of where I left off and tell you that we are in London and we're doing fine. The night before we left for London vua the train, we were in Brighton. It's so strange to have watched BBC News report on the close-call at the TigerTiger night club in Piccadilly Circus and then walk right by it the next day. But, it can't stop me from loving London.

Now, I'll come back to what we've been up to since I last updated. Considering my study abroad program finally starts tomorrow morning, I'm going to make this fast. I'll add pictures in when I finally get them uploaded on to the computer!

We had our needed extra day in Dublin with which we walked a great deal and saw more of the city. The next day, our ferry wasn't scheduled to leave until 8 that night, so realy we got another day towards Dublin. With the time we had, we walked to the Art Museum, which really didn't consist of much art. We mostly found ourselves in exhibits for the Easter Rebellion, Irish soldiers in WWI & II, and the history of Irish .... furniture. The exhibits that actually displayed art were interesting and I was a sucker for the "The Way We Wore" exhibit on the history of Irish dress. After that, we took the train back into the city and returned to the hotel, which called us a cab to the docks.

The ferry ride to Ireland was sad for me. I really didn't want to leave it behind, not knowing when I'd get the opportunity to see it again. And I got further, more uncomfortable culture shock from Great Britain. When we arrived in Holyhead (as in "Hollyhead"), Wales, it was pitch black outside, so our cab ride to the hotel left me completely unaware of what the place really looked like.

To my surprise, when I woke up the next morning (in our huge, posh room) it was to a panoramic view of the rocky ocean bay of Holyhead. It was amazing. So amazing, in fact, that my mom splurged a little and booked us another night at the hotel (otherwise we would have left that morning. This way we could fully appreciate the gorgeous view). I loved the houses around the bay, especially the biggest on set on top of a cliff. I;ve decided that when I'm rich and famous, I'm going to buy that house.

OUr first day in Holyhead we took a rode trip (afer mom rented another car - this time a compact automatic, thank God) to Carenarfon Castle, where the Princes of Wales are crowned. Eleanor and I enjoyed running around the long, stone corridors, hiding from mom around bends and in small, empty rooms, and climbing up to the steep turret steps. Of course, it rained.

The next day we left our lovey hotel room in Holyhead and drove toward . . . . actually, no. I'm really tired. I have to stop. I'll jump ahead to where I am now to better explain why I have to stop typing. Our hotel in London - the Royal National - is pretty horrible. The service is cold and the rooms are something less than desired. Outside the my room on the sixth floor (I have a single, here), there is a beer garden in the courtyard, open late into the night, echoing the sounds of many drunk parties off the bricked aread surrounding it. Even with the windows closed in my room the sound is incredible. It worse than even the concerts that would take place just outside my dorm room window last year on West Circle field. On top of all that, I could sleep because the fire alarm was pulled not once but twice, last night. Once at 2:30 something in the morning and again at almost 5 am. Both times, worrying that an actually terrorist attack had occured (or was going to occur once we all fled the building), Mom, Eleanor, and I always evacuated with the other guests, standing in the cold, wet morning. Both times nothing happened, there was no fire. All that happened was I lost so needed sleep. Therefore, I will fill in the rest of my trip later on. Right now, my mind is't functioning well enough for me to even rightly remember what happened this past week.

Cheers!

Dublin, Part One

I just got my Wicklow Mountain pictures from Thursday downloaded. It was such a beautiful place, but the rain was unbelievable! Poor Eleanor’s feet were blistered from her shoes, so she found herself run around this very Lord of the Rings-like environment as a barefoot hobbit. Mom brought us to a field where she took her favorite picture on her honeymoon. In the picture (and what we saw) there is a large high cross sitting on a little mound of earth and one of its arms is missing. When Braveheart was filmed in this area, they actually put a fake arm on the broken high cross. Due to Eleanor’s hurt feet, Mom took the long walk back to the car and drove back to pick Eleanor and I up. While we waited for her, Eleanor and I sat by a food kiosk, ate a bag of greasy chips, sipped hot drinks, and watched a group of birds fly around and sit at our table with us.







Driving to Dublin was a little hectic, but not nearly as horrible as we had expected. Again, the rain didn’t help. We dropped off the rental car at the airport and took a taxi van to our Comfort Inn, right in the middle of the city.

Yesterday, we went to the National Museum Archeology and History; a place the Forton family would go nuts for. I couldn’t believe how many things were in that place. After more than two hours of walking around the museum, we decided we needed another night in Dublin. Next, we toured the Guinness Storehouse … for more learning. Yes, we learned how the Guinness Draught is made and ended our tour in the Gravity Bar with a free pint (and a free Fanta for Eleanor). This top-story, glass-incased pub has the best view of the whole city.




Leaving as the Storehouse closed, I had to hurry across the city to the Tripod Concert Venue for my long awaited Beirut concert! Mom was a bit worried about letting her twenty year-old daughter run around Dublin on her own, especially with a free pint of Guinness in her system, but we’ve learned this trip that I am a human GPS system and all was well. The only real problem I met was the breaking of my beloved yellow umbrella and the cruelly ironic downpour that followed.

The concert was great. To my luck, another lone American girl stood in line just in front of me and we enjoyed the concert together, talking about what we’ve seen so far (she’s been backpacking all around Ireland, to London, an Paris) and what music we listen to. It was quite obvious that Zach Condon (Mr. Beirut) was thoroughly smashed upon taking the stage, yet he still had the energy to play his trumpet flawlessly and drink another two pints. It was a great experience, going to a concert in Dublin. I felt no anti-American vibes (Zach Condon is from Santa Fe, New Mexico). A young Irish couple asked me and my new-found friend (whom I never got the name of…) if we came all the way to Dublin just for the concert. Everyone was nice, helpful if I had a question, and just there to enjoy the great music. There were two encores from Beirut. In the first he played a long, new song, not yet recorded. And then he came out by himself (without his ten-piece band) and sang Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah.” Thanks to his intoxication and the fact that he’d just learned the song the day before in Paris, Zach needed to pause every couple verses because he couldn’t remember the lyrics. As ridiculous as he was, it was an excellent concert and I’m so glad I could go.





When the concert got out it was about 10 at night and still light out. I walked back, safely, and in time for a bad American movie (Abandon, starring Katie Holmes and Zooey Deschanel (the one who should know better)) and some cheese, English mustard, and fresh bread for dinner.

Today we had to leave our room at the Comfort Inn and move a couple blocks over to the Best Western, because we did decide to stay another night and the Comfort Inn was fully booked. There’s so much still to see in this amazing city, so hopefully we’ll leave for England tomorrow feeling like we’ve done a thorough job.

We're in Ireland

Hello, all! My family and I are finally living our dream. We're on our last leg of touring Ireland with two nights in Dublin. I would have started this blog earlier, but we haven't had much luck in finding cheap internet-access.

Our first flight took off from the Detroit Airport around 10:30 at night, last week Thursday, spanning seven confusing hours. British Airways has an in-flight movie system installed into the back of each head rest, in which you can choose what movie you want to watch and when you want to watch it. I watched Godsford Park (trying to take in one more British film before landing, though I admit I dosed even with Clive Owen in front of me)m while more watched Children of Men (more Clive) and Eleanor watched ... I can't remember. Sadly, I wasn't seated anywhere near Mom and Eleanor, soI felt like I was making the flight on my own. I didn't get to see them until we landed (though, I did visit them briefly at their seats twice). We landed in Heathrow Airport around 10 in the morning (5 for us), queued through customs, and boarded our plane to Shannon, Ireland. To my amazement (and that of the rest of the passangers) our plane was delayed for nearly three hours. To make matters worse, we had already been seated when the delays piled up, so all we could do was sit and wait. Eventually, we arrived in Shannon. Budget Car Rental gave us a gastly large car (I feel it was my fault for having such a large suitcase) with impossible-to-find windshield wipers (of course, it was raining when we left the airport). Upon leaving the airport, Mom immediately turned onto the wrong side of the road, corrected herself, and we made our way to the ever-foreign Travelogue.

The next day we went explored Limerick, home of Frank McCourt (Angela's Ashes). As squalor as the town's reputation, our only problem with it was the dangers of car parks and busy one-way streets. We ran around King John's Castle, St. Mary's Cathedral, and bought some pastries and brown bread (yum!) at the day's market.




Next stop was Cashel for The Rock, an ancient cathedral ruin. It was absolutely gorgeous with giant, ornate crosses marking the graves of town descendants, large crows soaring through the sky, and an excellent view of the city below (along with the circus tent in the distant field). We stayed in our first B&B in town, called the Cashel Town Bed & Breakfast. Our large room was decorated with odd quotes from a famous Irish book series.




Sunday, we toured down very narrow, twisting roads across The Burren, a vast area of old stone-walled fields and ringforts dating back 6,000 years. We visited the Burren Purfumery, maker of pure organic perfumes. I bought myself a Rosewater, while Mom bought some Lavender Oil. The Perfumery was covered in vines of roses and our teas at the pink picnic set made me feel like Alice in Wonderland.




Monday, we went to the Cliffs of Mohr. Mom said that when she and Dad went on their honeymoon, only a few other people were at the cliffs along with a couple of goats. There was only a small fence, keeping viewers from the edge. Now, the area is teeming with tourists, shops are dug into the nearby hill, men mow the grass rather than goats, and a thick, long wall braces the cliffs. Though the commercialism was overwhelming (like that of Niagara Falls), the view was incredible. Afterwards, Mom stumbled upon an old cemetery she and Dad went to. Our next stop was Galway, where we really just window-shopped and checked our email. Though, the city does make for a great walk.




Tuesday was a long day of driving through unbelievable mountain ranges in heavily Gaelic country, only to end up in the incredibly tourist-driven town of Westport.




Wednesday, one could say we risked our lives. At 10:30 in the morning we begin our trek up Croagh Patrick, the 734 meter Holy Mountain of Ireland. Though thousands of people climb this mountain barefoot year-round, our little family was seriously tested in our white trainers. The first part of the journey went relatively smooth with a calm, scenic ascent between lust, green vegetation and the shaggy sheep that feed on it. Then things became rockier. Then it became steeper. The last hour of our climb truly and honestly tested our faith in many shapes and forms. The numerous loose rocks and increasingly steep terrain nearly forced us to give up on our mission and turn around. Thanks to the handful of Irish climbers (all certainly past their sixties!) who spoke with us on the dangerous slope about their many climbs (one many said he’d climbed the mountain 29 times!) and gave us tips on making our way, we built up the courage and will to carry on. Forty-some minutes later we arrived at the windy top, the old white chapel covered in fog (we were in a cloud, after all). Just after getting our picture taken at the top by a kind young couple, we all huddled in a small doorway as a brief rainstorm hit the mountaintop. Luckily and surprisingly, the climb down went smoother than the climb up, but we still finished our journey in a whopping five hours!




Today, on our way to Dublin, we drove through the misty Wicklow Mountains (very Lord of the Rings) and walked around the ancient, monastic city of Glendalough (where parts of Braveheart and Highlander were filmed). And now, we’re in Dublin! The Comfort Inn is gorgeous, at least compared to the strange room we had over a bar, last night in Enfield. Tomorrow we will hopefully go to the National Archeology and History Museum, look at all the beautiful, old cathedrals and homes on Dame Street, and shop around the very popular Parnell Square. In addition, I have a Beirut concert to attend, that night, at the Tripod. After that, it’s off to England!