London Part 1

We had a real slow start here the first morning, we were all very tired after our traveling from the day before. So we sort of moseyed through the city. We walked from our hostel to Regents Park. At first we couldnt seem to find the park and thought it was really lame, and then when we found it, we were sooo impressed. It was very magnificient. It holds the London Zoo, along with cricket pitches, a boat pond, and tennis courts. Its soo easy to forget your in the middle of a city. Then we wandered down to Piccadilly Circus and stopped for lunch on the way. We walked around the square and by all of the shops, it reminded us a lot of Times Square in New York. Then we went down to St. James Park where we all ended up camped out in the grass, and everyone but Justine took a nap by the pond. From where we were, we could several government buildings as well as the London Eye. We grabbed a quick dinner near our hostel and called it an early night.

Today we started out a bit earlier and went on a tour of the Tour of London. Again we had a really great tourguide. The guides are Yeoman Warders, gentlemen who have met certain requirements through their service to the crown in the army or marines. We learned all about the famous people who had been imprisoned their and how they had been torture and/or killed. It was soooo interesting. They also keep the crown jewels at the Tower (which by the way has 20 towers, not just 1). They were soooo ornate, there are hundreds of jewels in each piece. From there we walked accross the Tower bridge and saw the London Bridge. We grabbed lunch from a small grocer and went to a park near city hall to eat. There is a walkway that spans most of the south side of the Thames from the Tower of London to the House of Parliment, so we walked the whole thing today stopping to check out the Tate Modern museum, where we saw work by Picasso, Matisse, Monet, Kandinsky, Mondrian, Dali, and many other modernists. We walked all the way to the House of Pariliment to see Big Ben and Westminster Abbey. Both buildings are sooo grand and its very impressive, though the majority of the house of parliment was built in the 19th century, so it is not as old as one would think, but it looks really beautiful all lit up at night. Tomorrow we are going to try to get tickets to see Wimbledon, well see how that goes!!

Dublin

We did some really awesome things while we were in Dublin. We walked everywhere, the city is very compact. We checked out Trinity College, what amazing buildngs to go to class in, tooo bad that you cant walk or sit on the grass. It was a very impressive complex! From there we went to several parks and went to see the Famine Statues. They were designed to try to emulate the pain of the people that experience the famine, they were set next to the river, and they were walking from the Customs house to the port, like many of the famine suffurers would have done. We then went on a walk along the river, what is so neat is that each bridge is completely different. There is the ha'penny footbridge that looked like it might have been from the 1700's to a bridge near the harbor that was very Calatrava-esque in design. We then picked up lunch at a grocery and took it to the green space at Dublin Castle where we had a picnic lunch. Afterwards we went to see St. Patrick's Cathedral. The gardens behind the church were very beautiful. Inside the church an organ recital was going on. Next we walked to the Guinness Storehouse at St. James Brewery. Soo impressive!!!! They made a really neat experience out of how the beer is made. My favorite part was seeing all of the materials they had collected over the years from their different advertising campignes. We got to try a glass of the Guiness Draught when we got to the top of the museum. That was a real treat because the top was a Gravity Bar with a 360 view of Dublin. We got to see the hill and the bay with the Irish Sea beyond. It was really really beautiful. Later we went out with our roomate to grab a dinner and went out to the famous Temple bar for some Guinness and Carlsburg.

The next day was unreal. We went on a van tour of Wicklow county. This is probably my favorite part of the trip so far. Ireland is one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen. We went to several lakes, and a few waterfalls. We also got to see a valley owned by a Duke who entertains the likes of Tiger Woods and other big hollywood and sports figures. We also saw where several scenes from Bravehart and PS I Love You were shot. Our guide was amazing. He was the kind of person who will tell you more and take you more places then the tour is supposed to. He was really great! He explained all about bogs and the turf that they harvest from it to use as fuel. I think my favorite part though, was Glendalough. This was an old monastery where the fabled St. Kevin once resided. Some of the original structures still stood. They were from the 10th and 11th centuries. We then walked down a path along one of the lakes to a waterfall. These lakes were crystal clear and the sky was a bright blue while we were there, truely striking. I dont think I've ever seen so much beautiful nature all in one place. When we got back we got organized to take our 1000pm flight from Dublin to London, so this because a long day, but we got in safely without much hassel.

We've Arrived!

We all landed in Dublin this morning at 8:00am...pretty tired and cranky after 8 hours in Toronto and another 8 on the plane. We spent some time exploring the city and then checked into our hostel. After naps and showers and food we were all in much better moods! We went and had fish and chips for dinner and wandered around the city centre. The architecture is an awesome mix of classical and new more avant-gard work. Looks like a good start to our adventure!!!
Got good pictures today, will add when im at a computer that allows this!

Itinerary

Dublin: June 21st-23rd
London: June 23rd-27th
Paris: June 27th-July 3rd
San Sebastian: July 4th-5th
Madrid: July 5th-July 8th
Barcelona: July 9th-12th
Cannes France: July 12th-13th
Interlocken: July 13th-15th
Basel: July 15th-18th
Munich: July 18th-21st
Venice: July 21st-25th
Cinque Terra: July 25th-26th
Rome: July 26th-31st
Athens Greece: July 31st-Aug 3rd
Istanbul Turkey: Aug 3rd-Aug 6th
Budapest: Aug 7th-8th
Vienna: Aug 8th-12th
Prague: Aug 12th-16th
Berlin: Aug 16th-19th
Copenhagen: Aug 19th-23rd
Amsterdam: Aug 23rd-27th
Brugge: Aug 27th-29th
Brussels: Aug 29th-Sept 1st
Dublin: Sept 1st-2nd