First stop was Cardiff in Wales, and after being bullied by a security guard in Barcelona Airport on my way home from Croatia, I was wise enough to rent a room outside of the airport for a quick snooze, and was able to arrive in Cardiff ready and reeling to go. With only one night there (and I thought there would be a lot more to do), I set off racing. First stop was a really cool tour of the Millenium Rugby Stadium, where the Wallabies lifted the World Cup Trophy in 1999! Go Champions! The stadium is so big and there was so much that they showed us, including glimpses of the official change-rooms and other 'secret' stadium rooms, but I think one of the best parts was walking down the tunnel to a recording of the crowd chanting as we headed out onto the field.
After a quiet night wondering around the port, the next day was all about sightseeing and just relaxing as I explored Cardiff. My taxi driver gave me a few pointers, including that he grew up with our lovely Julia living one street away, and I made sure to tick all these places off my list- the Castle, the Port, Mermaid Quay and others. Soon enough it was onto Dublin!
After meeting up with Lara, Kara and Ang in the pouring rain, it was time to begin the true Irish experience- having a Guinness as my first drink in Ireland- and GAHH are they disgusting! Being in Italy I have begun to drink a bit more beer than I did back home, but even so, Guinness will be reserved for St Patty's days and trips to Ireland. It was good to catch up with the girls and see how everyone has been doing over the last few months, and have the compulsory gossip session that occurs when you haven't seen some people for 6-months! For our one day together in Dublin we crossed off some of the main touristy attractions- Guinness Factory, a whisky factory, churches, castles and more, a highlight would definitely have to be the Leprechaun Museum that we visited. Who knew there was more to their stories than being cute little green magic creatures!
Parting ways it was onto Cork for me, heading south to see a calmer and quieter Irish city, a relaxing overnight stay where I ended up practising more Italian in half an hour than I'm pretty sure I have done most of the year- there were 3 girls who couldn't speak English, I realised they were from Italy and ended up translating for them to shopkeepers for about 30 mins, then ended up spending the night out with them. Great experience.
Sometimes I forget how small places are in Europe, and sometimes I clearly underestimate how far away from each-other they are. Not realising it was going to take me all day (a 3 hour train trip, then 20 minute bus, then another 3.5hours on the train) to get from Cork to Belfast should have called for some rearranging of plans, but you all know how stubborn I can be so I spent most of my day travelling from city to city, eventually arriving in Belfast to meet up with some extended family members for dinner- Hi Ian and Dot if you are reading!
I was lucky enough to have my personal chauffeur (*wink wink*) drive me around town, and up the coastline of Northern Ireland to visit Giant's Causeway and the Rope-bridge, leaving me with plenty of time to spend wandering around Belfast City the next day, especially giving me ages to wander around the new Titanic Museum! There was so much to see inside, but by the end of it I felt a bit overwhelmed with what I had seen, until you get to the end where they have videos showing the submarine trips down to the wreckage- pretty neat.
With so much history of The Troubles to learn about, I hoped onto one of those open bus tours and learnt quite a bit more about what has gone on in Belfast over the years than I was expecting. What I really didn't know was that there is still some tension today, and even now they have gates and fences separating the different areas that they close and lock up each night. They also have their own form of a security wall, excepting there is is called the Peace Wall.
Next stop was onto Edinburgh, where I only wish I had had more time! I will certainly be back. The crazy history of capital punishments, witch trials, ghost hauntings and Harry Potter makes it a city that is always busy. The fact that The Queen (the real one, not the movie version) was in town only made things more exciting. I have been doing a few walking tours in all the cities I visit, most of them are free and they show you some great stuff. The one in Edinburgh took about 4 hours and we walked over most of both Old and New Town, and in the night I once again joined them for a ghost tour, a tour where we ended up seeing a real bone sticking out of the ground! I ended up hanging around in town for an extra day to see The Queen, but once she had left (and us girls had our Harry Potter fix filled), I headed on over to Glasgow.
While a big city, I really didn't find Glasgow all that interesting. Yes, the museum of religious art and practices was fascinating, and their science museum reminded me a lot of Questacon in Canberra, but I think that was pretty much all that caught my attention. Early on the day of my departure I headed off to the train station to plan my last few days, which consisted of hopping around the Scottish Highlands and visiting various Lochs (Lakes), hearing stories about haunted brothels-turned mansions-turned youth hostels, and trying to catch a glimpse of the Loch Ness Monster for a reward. Alas I missed out!
I think I crammed quite a lot into two weeks, and hopefully will be back some time soon to re-visit some of these places and spend more time doing what I missed out on! All in all I loved the UK, but was ready to leave it for some new explorations and to see more of Europe- onwards I head to the next few months! PS- tons more photos are on facebook, if you can't access them let me know and we can work something out xx
With so much history of The Troubles to learn about, I hoped onto one of those open bus tours and learnt quite a bit more about what has gone on in Belfast over the years than I was expecting. What I really didn't know was that there is still some tension today, and even now they have gates and fences separating the different areas that they close and lock up each night. They also have their own form of a security wall, excepting there is is called the Peace Wall.
Next stop was onto Edinburgh, where I only wish I had had more time! I will certainly be back. The crazy history of capital punishments, witch trials, ghost hauntings and Harry Potter makes it a city that is always busy. The fact that The Queen (the real one, not the movie version) was in town only made things more exciting. I have been doing a few walking tours in all the cities I visit, most of them are free and they show you some great stuff. The one in Edinburgh took about 4 hours and we walked over most of both Old and New Town, and in the night I once again joined them for a ghost tour, a tour where we ended up seeing a real bone sticking out of the ground! I ended up hanging around in town for an extra day to see The Queen, but once she had left (and us girls had our Harry Potter fix filled), I headed on over to Glasgow.
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| Vegetarian Haggis, kind of tastes like cottage pie! |
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| Her Majesty |
While a big city, I really didn't find Glasgow all that interesting. Yes, the museum of religious art and practices was fascinating, and their science museum reminded me a lot of Questacon in Canberra, but I think that was pretty much all that caught my attention. Early on the day of my departure I headed off to the train station to plan my last few days, which consisted of hopping around the Scottish Highlands and visiting various Lochs (Lakes), hearing stories about haunted brothels-turned mansions-turned youth hostels, and trying to catch a glimpse of the Loch Ness Monster for a reward. Alas I missed out!
I think I crammed quite a lot into two weeks, and hopefully will be back some time soon to re-visit some of these places and spend more time doing what I missed out on! All in all I loved the UK, but was ready to leave it for some new explorations and to see more of Europe- onwards I head to the next few months! PS- tons more photos are on facebook, if you can't access them let me know and we can work something out xx
