Homeward bound

Well folks, this is the last blog that will be written from the UK. Sadly it is not a interesting blog. The girls ended the trip with a bit of relaxation, taking the day veeerrry slowly. They slept in then ate pizza for breakfast and watched tv in their pjs until 1:00. Conveniently when they decided it was time to get going, they discovered a huge mall right beside the hotel, so they wandered around for a bit then went to see Jane Eyre the movie, which Lauren found much more entertaining than the book, possibly because of the rather good looking Michael Fassbender. After the movie it was dinnER at the hotel and back to the room to pack and watch movies. The girls are up early to catch a bus to the airport (though fortunately not nearly as early as they had to be for the ferry the other day) and then they will say goodbye to UK and hello Manitoba. They should be back in The Peg around 6, hopefully just in time to hear that the Bombers made up for last weeks terrible performance.
I hope everyone has enjoyed reading this blog as much as I have enjoyed writing it. It's been a fun and exciting six weeks, but the girls and I will be glad to be home, and look forward to showing everyone their pictures.

So, signing off for the last time, ta ta, pip pip and cheers,
Tim

Farewell to the Emerald Isle

Well, our time in the UK is almost up. Sunday is the day of departure. The girls are now in reading chilling until it is time to board the plane. They left Derry on Thursday and headed to Larne, where they relaxed in their bed and breakfast and went to bed early, as the ferry left at 715 am this morning. They spent all day on the ferry and trains, and are now eating pizza in their hotel room in reading. Upon review of the blog, they were horrified to find that they had forgotten to share some funny experiences with all of you! Firstly, cari had her name written as Can on the Derry hostel registration sheet. That's a first! Also, the hostel was run by george and not George ( we never learned his name), who always slept on the couch and never quite seemed to know exactly what was going on. And lastly, lauren was confronted at the pub by two Irish boys who were sure they knew how to sing the Canadian national anthem. It went something like this: oh Canada! Aboot aboot aboot aboot aboot! Oh the Irish. Always a good time! Many more funny things happened, but they are far too numerous to blog about, and I am sure you will ask the girls if you are curious!

Cheers.
Tim

A Tale of Gigantic Proportions

Tuesday morning the girls were up and at'em early on the bright green Paddywagon Tours bus en route to the giants causeway. First though the bus stopped off at the Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge, which was originally built by fisherman so they could spread their nets off one of the little islands off the coast. Back then it had only one rope handrail, but fortunatly for Lauren (who is not a fan of heights) it now has one on each side, plus wire reinforcements. This gave Lauren sufficient confidence to cross, and th girls explored the tiny (but very very windy) island. Back on the bus, they were regaled by their tour guide Troy with the story of how the Giants's Causeway got it's name. In brief, an Irish giant named Finn Mccool built the causeway so he could cross the ocean and woo the Scottish giant Una. He did so and they returned to Ireland but were later persued by another Scottish giant who wanted Una for himself. Finn knew he could not win the fight, so Una tricked the other giant and as he ran in fear back to Scotland he tore up the causeway so Finn couldn't follow him, and so all we have left today are the ruins left behind. What the causeway actually is is basalt rock formations from when underwater volcanoes erupted and the lava cooled in the ocean, but that's a much less interesting story so the girls and I are sticking with the giant version.
After the causeway it was on the city of (London)Derry for a VERY wet walking tour and then onto their next hostel. After drying off and warming up the girls followed a tour group that was staying at the hostel to a traditional Irish pub for some Guinness, Baileys and music. In the wee hours they returned to the hostel, and consequently did not get up in a timely fashion this morning. When they did get going, it was time to check out a museum, walk the city walls, and do some shopping. After dinner it was out to a comedy show with some of their new friends, then bed for all. Tomorrow they head to Larne for day then they say goodbye to the Emerald Isle and start making their way back to London and Heathrow.

Cheers,
Tim

A city divided

Another day, another adventure! Today was the day for the girls to explore Belfast. First they started off with the botanical gardens that border on Queens university. They contained a Rose garden, a palm house, a tropical ravine, and some nice pathways. The gardens also have a museum, but it is unfortunately closed on Mondays. So the girls were stumped as to what to do, as they had planned on spending a good chunk of time there. After much deliberation, they decided to take a bus tour of the city. As they were walking to the one they had chosen, they were suddenly accosted by a fast talking pamphlet wielding promoter, who managed to charm them into taking his tour. It turned out to be a very good tour, and they saw many things. It was kind of a sombre occasion however, as most of the tour took them through the divided quarters of the city with murals promoting each side. I am of course talking about the conflict between the catholics and the protestants. They still live divided, as giant "peace walls" separate the neighbourhoods from each other. There
were signs of peace however, which cheered everyone up very much. After the tour they went to city hall and took a tour there. It was a very pretty building, with lots of marble and stained glass. Then it was a bit of window shopping, a bite to eat, and then a movie. The girls saw rise of the planet of the apes which, despite it's ridiculous title, wasn't a bad movie. Now it's relax time, as we all must be up early to take a tour up to the giants causeway, and then a bus to the hostel in Derry.

Cheers.
Tim.

Wet sock

Hello folks! 
The girls arrived in Killarney on sat and after dumping their bags at the hostel, proceeded to explore the town. It didn't take long as it is in fact a town, not a city which was nice for a change. After checking out the shops and going for a brief walk in the national park, they then hopped on a tour bus (on which they were the only people under 60) which took them to see some of the sights including the lakes, Kate Kearneys cottage (supposedly the most beautiful woman in Ireland), Mucross house, and a waterfall. Everything in the area is gorgeous, but the girls liked the waterfall in particular. Cari liked it so much that she slipped and got a booter while trying to get a picture, and so spent the rest of the evening with a wet sock and shoe. 
Back in the town the tried to seek oh some inexpensive dinner, which was difficult as Killarney is clearly a tourist town and even their usual fallback of pub food was not cheap. Eventually the found a cute little restaurant and so had dinner, watched a movie at the hostel and headed for bed.
This morning they had to check out of their rooms at 10 but, being Sunday, the trains did not run very often and no shops were open so they proceeded to kill time in the hostel lounge until it was time to begin the long journey north. Two trains, a bus, another train (on which they were serenaded by celebrating football fans) and a taxi ride later they arrived at  their next hostel in Belfast. After a nice relaxing cup of tea and some pleasant conversation with their Ecuadorian and Australian roomates, they girls are headed for bed so they can get up tomorrow and see what Belfast has to offer.

Cheers,
Tim

Butter, lamb stew and Guinness

Hello again. So today was a very chill day for us all. It started off with some sleeping in, which was followed by a trip to the butter exchange and the butter museum. A random choice we know, but someone has to visit the weird random places! After being educated on butter making and seeing a cask of 1000 year old butter (yummy), they visited the cork gaol to learn about prison life back in the day. It didn't seem too pleasant. An early dinner constituted of drinks and delicious lamb stew at a local pub, where the bartender made cari a rather interesting black Russian that included Guinness (but she insisted it was good none the less). Bowling followed that, and since it was ten pin, nobody did very well at first. It took 4 games to break 100! Now the girls are just watching tv, as they must hop on an early train tomorrow to get to Killarney. There they will explore the national park and see that lake that looks exactly like the killarney lake at home (supposedly). Should be good!

Cheers!
Tim

Gift of the Gab

Top o the mornin to ya my friends,
On Wednesday morning the girls packed up and headed to the train station in Dublin, making sure to detour on the way to see St Patricks Cathedral and the Guinness storehouses and brewery. They then hopped a train to Cork, checked in to their new hostel and met the guard dog Reilly, who promptly demanded petting (I'm not sure how much guarding he actually does). They had Chinese food for dinner, watched some tv and headed for bed so they could get up this morning for the real reason they came to Cork; Blarney Castle and the stone! They arrived at blarney castle around midday and promptly ascended to the top, where the stone is located. They soon discovered that to actually kiss the stone, one must lie down and bend over backwards over a hole in the floor and kiss a part of the castle wall. With a nice old Irish man holding you so you don't fall of course. cari did this with ease, but Lauren was very frightened and only just barely kissed the stone. All for the better, because she talks enough anyways. And lo! But would you believe that the stone truly did work it's magic, and all were blessed with the gift of true eloquence? It is so! After they recieved unto themselves such a wondrous gift, the young ladies allowed themselves a leisurely turn about the castle grounds. There they strolled through the poison garden, wherein they educated themselves about the uses and ills of an abundance of poisonous plants. They then tarried a while in the rock close, which housed many items of interest. They penetrated the depths of the witch's cave, alighted the wishing steps, marvelled at a druid's circle and kept a weather eye open for fairy folk. Then it was time for a stroll about the woodlands and lake, and was the wearer quite fine for it! Upon return to Cork, rest was required and dinner was served. And all shall spend a quiet evening before retiring, as tomorrow will surely bring about more interests that command the young ladies attention.
I bid thee farewell.
Timothy.