Andrea Finally Goes to Europe–Galway, Ireland

Saturday, April 20, 2014

After checking out of our beloved Fitzwilliam Hotel, we once again piled into the minivan for another full day of driving.  We drove south from Belfast, headed towards Galway.  At some point along the way we passed into Ireland.  It was kind of weird to have Northern Ireland use the pound currency and then suddenly we had to switch pack to the Euro in Ireland.  There really wasn’t a very noticeable boundary.  Before going to Galway, we drove South and and West to the West Coast of the island to see the Cliffs of Moher also known as the Cliffs of Insanity .

It was another long day of driving, but again it was so much fun to be together and chat and laugh along with some spectacular scenery, it was most pleasant.  I think we drove 3 or 4 hours before arriving at the Cliffs.  Again, there was a visitor center with some shops.  It was a huge expanse of land all along the coast line with sheer cliffs dropping into the ocean.  It was breathtaking.  We walked around to several vantage points, hiking for several miles. 

After taking in all of that scenery, we loaded back up to finish our drive to Galway.  We checked in our gigantic, crowded hotel.  Evidently, there was a rugby team staying there too and it was a big deal.  We drive around the very confusing, very congested city looking for somewhere to eat for our late night dinner when we finally settled good old American McDonald’s.  Sometimes you just need a burger and fries.

We made it back to our crazy hotel and crashed.

Andrea Finally Goes to Europe–Belfast, Northern Ireland

On Friday morning, April 19, 2014, we struck out for out for our last destination (sort of), Ireland.  I kind of forced Brennan to go, he was sad because he hadn’t been able to contact any of his old Mission contacts and felt some weird pressure to wow all of us.  Davis and Melissa were reconnecting with us since they had not yet explored Ireland.  That Friday morning we flew from Manchester, UK to Belfast, Northern Ireland and park of the UK.  We caught a cab, had the cutest, friendliest driver ever, who drove us to our hotel (and gave us a great dinner recommendation).  Besides the Oxford hotel, this, the Fitzwilliam Hotel was our nicest hotel, it was so nice and the staff were all the friendliest people on earth.  The rooms were so colorful and modern and fun, we loved it.  We met Davis and Melissa at the hotel, they had picked up the rental minivan and we headed out to Giant’s Causeway.  As I recall it was a several hour drive.  Bea was such a trouper, she blew us away at how patient and good-natured she was.  It was so fun to sit and chat with the 6 of us as we drove through some of the most scenic countryside we’d ever seen.  It’s everything you imagine Ireland to be, green rolling hills, old stone fences crumbling a bit, with perfect white dots of sheep adding the perfect touch to the scene.  There were little rustic houses, small and not updated at all.  There were some narrow roads, but Davis drove and managed nicely, despite Brennan’s frequent panic and passenger-seat driving .  We finally made it to Giant’s Causeway.  One of our ancestors, Mary Cunnachy, describes this as her beloved birthplace.  It was so neat to read her words about the very place we were.  When we got there, there was a visitor’s center and  then there are nice paved roads we could walk down to the Causeway on.  Giant’s Causeway is really hard to explain, we took the recorded audio tour, but I still don’t get it.  It’s a natural phenomenon that looks man made.  The legend has it that a giant was starting to build a bridge to Scotland.  Here we are on these naturally carved steps of Giant’s Causeway. 

That goes on and on and has varying heights.

It’s pretty amazing.  Here’s another angle.
 


Instead of going back up the nice paved roads, Brennan insisted we hike up the scenic non-paved trail with about a million steps, with a stroller.

Going up the Shepherd’s Steps

Davis and Melissa were up for it and Brennan and Davis carried the stroller the whole way up.

Here is the view looking down.

When we made it to the top

Next, about a half hour away was a rope bridge that Brennan made us go do.  I really dislike heights, and I really dislike bridges above heights, especially shakey, old rope ones!

Here is the bridge, but this does not give you a feel for the terrifying depth below us.

You can see a little better here, but still not how deep the distance below us goes.  You can, however see the terrifying reality of Davis carrying Bea while trying to maintain his balance and grip on the bridge.  Yikes!
On our drive back to Belfast, I managed to catch this very bad picture of the coolest tree-lined street, with branches completely entangled.  It looked like something out of a fantasy novel.
We arrived back in Belfast and dropped Davis off for a business call while the rest of us set out to find Brennan’s old mission apartment.  Not just any apartment, the apartment he had talked about his experience there for years.  He and his companion were out working and a member asked them for a ride somewhere.  They almost did it, but realized if they did they would miss their mission curfew.  They decided to be obedient and made other arrangements for the person and hurried home in time for curfew.  About 15-30 minutes after they settled into their apartment, the building they parked their car in front of blew up.  A bomb had been set in the window well of that building blowing out the windows of their car and would have most certainly injured them had they been pulling up right then.  They were safe because of their obedience.  The bombing had been in retaliation to a shooting in a bookie shop right next to their apartment. 
Brennan thought he remembered the apartment being on Shankill Road, the famous divisive road that Catholics were on one side and Protestants the other, and were not allowed to cross.  We drove up and down Shankill Rd again and again and could not find the apartment.  Brennan was frustrated, it was all familiar but something was different.  We felt badly for dragging everyone on a wild goose chase after an already long day in the car.  I said a quick prayer that we would be able to find it and then had the thought to google the name of the bookie shop where the shooting happened.  I did so and saw that the street was Ormeau Road.  We quickly looked it up and found it in a few minutes.  Here it is, his apartment was above where he is standing:

Here is the bookie shop next door with a monument to those shot

And for some stupid reason I didn’t take a picture of the building the bomb had been in.  It was so thrilling to be there to see this site that was so significant.  Brennan was emotional and so grateful for the chance to revisit it.
We went back to the hotel and finally headed to Howard Street Restaurant for another late dinner.  It was really good, and overall Belfast left a very happy impression on us.  The people were the friendliest we had encountered.   All in all a great day in Belfast!

Andrea Finally Goes to Europe–Cotswolds

 

On Thursday, April 17, 2014 we awoke nice and rested and ready to explore the Cotswolds.  Once again, we’ll go to Wikipedia, which has to say this about the Cotswolds:

The Cotswolds is an area in south central England containing the Cotswold Hills, a range of rolling hills which rise from the meadows of the upper Thames to an escarpment, known as the Cotswold Edge, above the Severn Valley and Evesham Vale. The area is defined by the bedrock of Jurassic limestone that creates a type of grassland habitat rare in the U.K. and that is quarried for the golden coloured Cotswold stone.^[1] The area, designated as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in 1966, is considered to have unique features derived from the local Cotswold stone; the predominantly rural landscape contains stone-built villages, historical towns, and stately homes and gardens.

I believe we first stopped at Lower Slaughter where there was the most charming little old mill now converted into a little shop.  The town is so beautiful and so completely a step back in time, it makes you feel like you’re living the life of all of the characters in every old English book you’ve ever read.  I thought I took pictures of the Mill, but apparently I didn’t, here is the little surrounding village though:

After wandering Lower Slaughter, we found a path leading to Upper Slaughter.  By path, I mean a few little gates leading you through the prettiest pastures full of sweet little sheep. 

 

Obviously, I should have gotten a million more pictures!  Upper Slaughter is much more upscale than Lower Slaughter.  It has the same old structures, and lovely scenery, but the houses are much bigger and fancier.  We saw wealthy families about the yards and walking through the scenic roads.  My Dad took this picture of this particularly fancy home in Upper Slaughter:

It is the most serenely beautiful place I have ever seen, there’s no traffic or rushing around, it was so peaceful and no matter you looked it was perfectly picturesque.

Some manicured hedges

We forced ourselves to leave this paradise and get back on the road where we got stuck in some pretty major traffic.  It was quite a contrast, but we didn’t really mind since we were in good company.  We were worried about trying to get our car back to the Manchester airport by our 7 pm deadline.  We were late, but it worked out.  We were shuttled to our nearby hotel and settled in and met downstairs in the hotel for a nice, late dinner.  It always seemed to be about 9 before we ate dinner each night despite our best efforts.  It was a fun way to cap off each day though sitting and enjoying each other’s company and good food.  That was actually one of my favorite meals, but I can’t remember what I had.  It was good though, mostly it was good not to be in the car.  We had got another sound sleep for our travel-weary bodies and woke up ready for our next leg of our journey.  By now I am sure you are wondering if this trip will ever end!

Andrea Finally Goes to Europe–Windsor and Oxford

 

April 16, 2014

Wednesday morning, the 16th, Brennan and I and my parents got up and said goodbye to Davis and Melissa and Bea for a few days and loaded into the rental car and drove about an hour, hour and a half outside of London to Windsor Castle.   This was definitely one of my favorites and one of the few things we took the time to go inside.

Here we are at Windsor, looking pretty cool with our recorded guided tour headphones

We must not have been allowed to take pictures inside, because I don’t have any.  It was amazing.  It was like a museum of incredible works of art, and architecture and history.  I loved every room and every minute we spent there. 

After loving every thing about Windsor Castle, we stopped in the charming little town around the castle at a little pub for a very English lunch

 

Fish and Chips

After lunch we drove another hour or so to Oxford University where they take their education very seriously and tourism…not so seriously.  I think we arrived around 2 and everything was pretty much closed.  We walked around the lovely town and admired the stunning and imposing buildings from the outside.  When we came to Christ Church, we realized they were allowing people in so we got in line, when the lady asked us if we were here for the concert, Brennan quickly said we were and we were in!  Each college has it’s own courtyard and surrounding smaller buildings.  Christ Church is one of the most distinguished colleges in Oxford.  It was incredible.  We walked through the courtyard and entered the stunning cathedral where we found some seats for a baroque Haydn Easter Concert.  Wow!  What a treat.  My Mom, especially was in heaven.

I think we left a little early, as it was getting late.  We found a restaurant in Oxford and enjoyed a nice meal, (but it took a while because we once again had a miscommunication on our order), but our waitress was so sweet.  She tried to pay for the meal that got ordered mistakenly with her own money.  We didn’t let her.  As we ate, we tried to find a hotel in the Cotswolds to stay in that evening, but because it was late, and we wouldn’t be there before 10, we couldn’t.  Things work differently there than in the US, I learned that .  What we lack in culture and old things, we make up for in customer service!  Anyway, whooped and getting a little discouraged, my Dad surprised us and booked us each beautiful rooms at an Oxford hotel.  We were thrilled to be able to drive across the street and have luxurious lodgings in that historic place.    

Here are Mom and Dad in front of Magdalen College where CS Lewis taught

Andrea Finally Goes to Europe, Brennan’s Golf Adventure

April 14-15, 2014

As I mentioned Brennan left us Monday morning and as we headed to England, he flew into Scotland.  I think he flew into Edinburgh, Scotland where he rented a car and drove up to St. Andrews.  Apparently, if you are any kind of golf enthusiast, you know all about St. Andrews.  Well, evidently, to play it is worth all kinds of trouble .   I need to ask him the details, but if I recall correctly, as I said he flew in to Edinburgh where he rented a car and drove a couple of hours to St. Andrews.  We planned this trip so quickly, he had called ahead to find out what his chances were of getting on.  Fortunately because he was alone, there was a shot.  He would have to be there at 5 am and wait in line, then if there was a group less than a threesome, they could decide whether or not to let him join them.  He was worried that since he had to rent clubs he would look like a hack and no one would let him play with them.  He got to St. Andrews around 9 or 10 pm, I believe where he “slept” in his tiny rental car and nearly froze (about 30 degrees)  to death about 20 yards from the first tee.  I’m not sure what the biggest factor in not sleeping was, the cold, the discomfort or the anticipation.  He got in line at 3:45 am and teed off at 7:20 and in his own words, “well worth it!”  He ended up playing with two guys from Philadelphia, wealthy soccer Dad’s there for a soccer tournament for their kids.  They were impressed and a little more than surprised by this unassuming, janitorial salesman from Utah with rented clubs.  I love that.   He had a great game checking off yet another “once in a lifetime opportunity”. 

Living the dream at St. Andrew’s Golf Course

After a long, but amazing day and a sleepless night, he started the drive to London.  We had planned to meet up with him Wednesday morning, perhaps in the Cotswolds, but he decided to keep going and drive straight through to London Tuesday night.  As I mentioned in my last post, it was kind of a harrowing journey.  It actually went fairly smoothly until he hit London and had no idea how to get to Davis’s.  He made it eventually though and it was so good to be together again.  He was thrilled with his little detour.

Andrea Finally Goes to Europe, London II

April 15, 2014

Day two in London!  We woke up and I think enjoyed doing a little laundry in Davis and Melissa’s tiny little washing machine and no dryer, but it was a welcome opportunity to clean our clothes.  Mom and Dad and I headed out to do the tour bus again.  It was a perfect day and so much fun to see the incredible and enormous city of London.  I think we got off early near the Thames and walked down to see Big Ben and the incredible Parliament Building. 



My statesman Dad was dying to take a tour of that magnificent and historic building, so Mom and I left him there while we  explored around Westminster Abbey, it was closed to go in, but we loved walking around and enjoying the beautiful grounds and views of so many incredible buildings and statues everywhere we looked. 

A statue of Abraham Lincoln!

We made our way down to Buckingham Palace where we saw the famous guards, didn’t get any great pictures, boo.

We walked around the extensive and beautiful grounds around the palace, grabbed some lunch and then met up with my Dad.  We got back on the bus and after that  I don’t think we got out of the bus for quite a while.   Most of the time the buses had a recorded tour you listened too on headphones, but at one point that day we had a real live Londoner tour guide full of British charm and knowledge.  We got to see the incredible architecture spanning centuries all mixed in to the lovely City.  So many historic and amazing sites.  We finally got off the bus at Herod’s to explore what felt like city within a city. 

A view of the Thames and the London Eye

My favorite part of Herod’s

I think we spent a couple of hours in that store, mostly the toy department.  It was incredible.   Mom and Dad bought some things for the grandkids and I bought some darling lollipops for my kiddos.  After shopping, we met Davis and Melissa and Bea for dinner at Wagamama’s.  I thought it was yummy, everyone else thought it was ok, but it was fun to be together.  We parted with Mom and Dad again and went back to Davis’s apartment.  Brennan called and was driving into London.  After a very long two days mostly driving and sleeping in his car, he was lost trying to find Davis and Melissa’s apartment.  Davis sweetly talked him down from the figurative ledge, and waited outside talking to him to get him safely to their apartment.  We were so happy to be reunited!

This little girl, was our very favorite London attraction

Andrea Finally Goes to Europe, London

April 14, 2014

Monday morning we got up early and packed up and said goodbye to our sweet little hotel, but much worse was saying goodbye to Brennan.  My parents and I were heading to London while he was flying to Scotland for his golfing adventure.  We would only be apart for a few days, but it was sad to part after getting used to being so together.  However, we were both excited for the next legs of our journey and looked forward to reuniting soon.  My parents and I boarded the EuroStar or Chunnel train in the Gare du Nord Station in Paris.  It was so slick and painless.  We did have to go through customs, but it was quick and orderly and we had all our bags and loaded them right on with us.

I think the ride lasted about 2 hours, it was comfy and smooth and crazy to realize we were going under the English channel.  Before we got to the channel we could look out the windows and see the gorgeous French countryside.  I saw several little villages centered around beautiful chapels and lots of rolling hills and wildflowers.  Once we went under water, it was just a big tunnel, so not much of a view.  It was so exciting to arrive at St. Pancras station in London.  It was so British!

We had instructions from Davis as to which tube line to get on and where to stop.  We managed to find it and settled in for our tube ride.  I think we had to change lines at one point which was an adventure to hustle through crowded stations with multiple sets of stairs while we lugged three giant suitcases and several carry ons.  My sweet Dad went up and down several times to help my Mom and I with our suitcases.  We finally got out of the mazes of stations and tubes to daylight where we were thrilled to see Davis!  He helped us with our luggage and led us on a short walk to their apartment.  It was so good to see Davis, Melissa and Bea!  I think Bea was about 5 months at the time and as cheerful and delightful as could be.  Their apartment was up several flights of stairs and was so cute.  After a busy few days it was nice to feel like we were home.  Mom and Dad had arranged to let us stay with Davis and Melissa and they had reserved a nearby hotel.  That day we settled in at Davis's and caught up with them for a minute before venturing out.  It was early afternoon and I believe we decided to do the Tower of London and all set out together, catching an underground train (tube) and minding the gap ;).  We walked out to the this incredible sight of modern and clean and beautiful buildings everywhere surrounding a HUGE ancient castle, right out of medieval times, with massive castle walls and a moat and the Thames just below it.  Everywhere you looked was a gorgeous cityscape of very modern architecture with a smattering of the very old and somehow it was seamless and breathtaking.  The Thames was stunning and so big and bold and a constant companion throughout the City.  There are several bridges each a little different and each an incredible sight, and then you see the London Eye looming high above everything but somehow delicate and unobtrusive. All of it truly took my breath away.  We grabbed some lunch and discovered Millionaire Shortbread (shortbread with a layer or caramel and chocolate).  We bought our tickets for The Tower of London and entered a whole new or rather old world.

We wandered around for several hours and were completely fascinated by all of the history surrounding us.  It was incredible.  We also got to see the Crown Jewels there.  We kind of ran out of time and left wishing we had a whole day to wander the whole thing.  I know I keep saying this, but it was thrilling!  I still can't believe I got to do all those things.

I think after that we walked through Covent Garden (incredible!) where I could almost see Eliza Doolittle selling flowers in the streets.

Wikipedia says, "Covent Garden (/ˈkɒvənt/) is a district in London on the eastern fringes of the West End, between Charing Cross Road and Drury Lane.^[1] It is associated with the former fruit and vegetable market in the central square, now a popular shopping and tourist site, and the Royal Opera House, which is also known as "Covent Garden"."   

Charing Cross Road and Drury Lane?  Are you kidding me?  How did I get there?  We ate at The Shake Shack and thoroughly enjoyed our food, surroundings and company.  As we walked through the Covent Garden district, we came upon little treasures like this:

We then made our way to Trafalgar Square and evidently my phone must have died cause I don't have any pictures.  It was so much fun to see Admiral Horatio Nelson looming high above us on the Nelson Column to commemorate his death at the Battle of Trafalgar.  I knew Admiral Nelson from the movie, "That Hamilton Woman".  It was so fun to see so much of what I had read about or watched in movies!  It was an exhilarating and we were happy and tired as we made our way back to Davis and Melissa's apartment.  Mom and Dad settled into their hotel and we were all happy to end another wonderful day.