Album One
Album Two
Album Three
It's a lot of pictures, but hopefully you'll enjoy them. :]
Saturday, January 23, 2010
Sunday, January 17, 2010
Park Inn, Shannon Airport
Yesterday of course was a slow day. Shelly and I had brunch, then walked across the city to get tickets to Belfast and found out that out of the three train stations, only one of them goes to Belfast, and it wasn't that one. So we gave up on that idea for the day, did a little more shopping on one of the main drags (O'Connell Street), and went back. We got Rachel out of bed at the crack of 2 pm and went out for Thai, then hopped a taxi to see St. Patrick's Cathedral. Unfortunately, by the time we got there, we couldn't go inside, but we got some awesome pictures of the outside. And at least now I've seen it.
So that was it basically. We saw Christ's Cathedral, then looked in at the fake-face Dublin Castle, which is really just a big house, and went home and watched Top Gear and went to bed.
This morning, we got up at 7 am and took off for Northern Ireland to circle around and down to Shannon. Instead of going to Belfast, we went just across the border to Newry. There is no border patrol anymore, which is nice because the border is not straight. It cuts back and forth and in and out and we crossed it about four times today. In Newry, we ate lunch, and left for a tiny little town where Rachel's grandfather is buried. So we visited him, and someone had been putting flowers on his grave. It was nice for her to see that someone still cared, so she took a picture and sent it to her dad and we left.
Then we went back into Ireland. Then we went back into Northern Ireland and saw police stations that looked like they were good to take a bomb or two. We're not used to seeing that in the States. A building like that is usually a private governmental building or something, but no, these are just normal police stations with watch towers and everything! We were like...what the crap?! It was cool to see though, especially now that the war is over and we don't have to worry about running over a bomb on the main drag. After that, we went back into Ireland and stayed there.
We drove to Galway and bought another suitcase because we bought to much crap to take back with the suitcases we had. Heh! :D Then we left for Shannon and, surprise, we're here! The internet isn't free. It's 12 Euro for 24 hours, which isn't bad, so we went ahead and paid for it.
Shelly's out of the shower so I'm gonna go take one, and she's gonna steal the laptop. Be back in WI tomorrow night!
So that was it basically. We saw Christ's Cathedral, then looked in at the fake-face Dublin Castle, which is really just a big house, and went home and watched Top Gear and went to bed.
This morning, we got up at 7 am and took off for Northern Ireland to circle around and down to Shannon. Instead of going to Belfast, we went just across the border to Newry. There is no border patrol anymore, which is nice because the border is not straight. It cuts back and forth and in and out and we crossed it about four times today. In Newry, we ate lunch, and left for a tiny little town where Rachel's grandfather is buried. So we visited him, and someone had been putting flowers on his grave. It was nice for her to see that someone still cared, so she took a picture and sent it to her dad and we left.
Then we went back into Ireland. Then we went back into Northern Ireland and saw police stations that looked like they were good to take a bomb or two. We're not used to seeing that in the States. A building like that is usually a private governmental building or something, but no, these are just normal police stations with watch towers and everything! We were like...what the crap?! It was cool to see though, especially now that the war is over and we don't have to worry about running over a bomb on the main drag. After that, we went back into Ireland and stayed there.
We drove to Galway and bought another suitcase because we bought to much crap to take back with the suitcases we had. Heh! :D Then we left for Shannon and, surprise, we're here! The internet isn't free. It's 12 Euro for 24 hours, which isn't bad, so we went ahead and paid for it.
Shelly's out of the shower so I'm gonna go take one, and she's gonna steal the laptop. Be back in WI tomorrow night!
Saturday, January 16, 2010
Dublin International Youth Hostel
Yesterday Shelly I went to the archives to research genealogy. They redirected us to the National Library which is near the museum. Guess what we found – the Hortons weren't even Irish! The Jacksons probably were, and the Hortons were most likely English. Our next trip has to be to England. This time we'll take two weeks and go to Paris. Yes, we're already plotting and scheming. Rachel had some success, and now knows that she and her dad have to visit there again and look up more of his side of the family. She found some baptism and marriage records, but they are from the Catholic churches, so they are all in Latin mumble jumble scrawl. That was annoying for everyone to try to read.
Either way, even if the Hortons were Irish, we now know that we would never find anything. Amzsey died in America in 1828, which means he immigrated before then, but we have some basic problems with tracing him back here. Item One: There were almost no emigration records back then. Item Two: We don't know his hometown, so we don't know which parishes to start looking. Item Three: There are very few Hortons here, and they were probably English with lots of money who bought plots of land in Ireland. Item Four: In the late 1820s or '30s, the Irish had a civil war. A group of people ran into the Four Courts and piled the records that they had outside of them and lit them on fire in order to barricade themselves inside. It was their only way of doing so. Unfortunately, it also means that most of the records from before that point were obliterated in feiry doom. Item Five: During WWI, Ireland used its records to repulp them to make more paper. We were told both of these last items by a man researching something in the library who was also into genealogy, who happened to work in the library in Microfilm/fiche. He LIVES in Ireland, and he can't find any of his family history before 1820. Therefore, I have made my case that trying much harder would be pointless unless we find out someday that the Hortons that were here practicing Catholicism during 1859 were relatives of Amzsey. It would be more worthwhile, as Ireland goes, to see how far we go back with the Jacksons. Though Shelly and I did write down some possible places where parishes have records of the Hortons' tithing. Fortunately, we did get something out of this: another reason to travel to Europe, greater knowledge of or English history, and BRITAIN DOESN'T DESTROY RECORDS! We should be able to find something next time around, since, as Rachel put it, “The British are obsessed with paper.”
After learning all of that, we had lunch and went to the art museum. That was pretty cool. Rachel found the print that she wanted: “Meeting on the Staircase” or something like that. It is a beautiful painting, depecting King Arthur's wife and Sir What's His Face passing in opposite directions on the stairs during their secret affair. You can feel both of their hearts stop. The body language and facial expressions are perfect in this little moment of passion as he kisses her extended forearm and she looks longingly over her opposite shoulder. It's hard to describe though so you'll have to try looking it up yourself.
Then we did all of our shopping, so yay! Shopping in Dublin! Finally, we got all tarted up and went out to the first bar that we went to. I can tell you this: going out to the bars really is the same, no matter where you do it. It's going out to the bars, whether you're in Eau Claire or Dublin. The only difference here was the men were Irish. Also, drunken political discussions are really, really amusing if you're the one that's had the least to drink, and actually quite interesting since people don't hold back like they might otherwise (leave it to me to find one of those rare gems).
And now, our final act, the next morning:
Me: I'm starving to death.
Shelly: Me too.
Rachel: Blaaggeerruuuugghhhh... I don't know why I drink. (flops onto bed and rolls over and passes out)
Belfast today! We will have technically really actually for realzies been in the United Kingdom/Great Britain, woo hoo! Also, my first train ride! Shelly and I just really really really need to eat first. And Rachel needs to sleep while we do that. And then everyone will be just peachy.
Either way, even if the Hortons were Irish, we now know that we would never find anything. Amzsey died in America in 1828, which means he immigrated before then, but we have some basic problems with tracing him back here. Item One: There were almost no emigration records back then. Item Two: We don't know his hometown, so we don't know which parishes to start looking. Item Three: There are very few Hortons here, and they were probably English with lots of money who bought plots of land in Ireland. Item Four: In the late 1820s or '30s, the Irish had a civil war. A group of people ran into the Four Courts and piled the records that they had outside of them and lit them on fire in order to barricade themselves inside. It was their only way of doing so. Unfortunately, it also means that most of the records from before that point were obliterated in feiry doom. Item Five: During WWI, Ireland used its records to repulp them to make more paper. We were told both of these last items by a man researching something in the library who was also into genealogy, who happened to work in the library in Microfilm/fiche. He LIVES in Ireland, and he can't find any of his family history before 1820. Therefore, I have made my case that trying much harder would be pointless unless we find out someday that the Hortons that were here practicing Catholicism during 1859 were relatives of Amzsey. It would be more worthwhile, as Ireland goes, to see how far we go back with the Jacksons. Though Shelly and I did write down some possible places where parishes have records of the Hortons' tithing. Fortunately, we did get something out of this: another reason to travel to Europe, greater knowledge of or English history, and BRITAIN DOESN'T DESTROY RECORDS! We should be able to find something next time around, since, as Rachel put it, “The British are obsessed with paper.”
After learning all of that, we had lunch and went to the art museum. That was pretty cool. Rachel found the print that she wanted: “Meeting on the Staircase” or something like that. It is a beautiful painting, depecting King Arthur's wife and Sir What's His Face passing in opposite directions on the stairs during their secret affair. You can feel both of their hearts stop. The body language and facial expressions are perfect in this little moment of passion as he kisses her extended forearm and she looks longingly over her opposite shoulder. It's hard to describe though so you'll have to try looking it up yourself.
Then we did all of our shopping, so yay! Shopping in Dublin! Finally, we got all tarted up and went out to the first bar that we went to. I can tell you this: going out to the bars really is the same, no matter where you do it. It's going out to the bars, whether you're in Eau Claire or Dublin. The only difference here was the men were Irish. Also, drunken political discussions are really, really amusing if you're the one that's had the least to drink, and actually quite interesting since people don't hold back like they might otherwise (leave it to me to find one of those rare gems).
And now, our final act, the next morning:
Me: I'm starving to death.
Shelly: Me too.
Rachel: Blaaggeerruuuugghhhh... I don't know why I drink. (flops onto bed and rolls over and passes out)
Belfast today! We will have technically really actually for realzies been in the United Kingdom/Great Britain, woo hoo! Also, my first train ride! Shelly and I just really really really need to eat first. And Rachel needs to sleep while we do that. And then everyone will be just peachy.
Friday, January 15, 2010
Dublin International Youth Hostel
The dining hall looks like the one from Harry Potter, so we'll be getting pictures of that today. They have “free” Wi-Fi with the purchase of a voucher, but the vending machine that has them is broken, so no internet I guess. Maybe when we get to Shannon I can start uploading these posts.
Yesterday was fun, even though we only did a couple of things. First, we had breakfast, and decided that we ought to get some real tea/coffee, so stopped by a cafe on our way to the bank. Then we withdrew some cash and bought a day-long tram ticket. I'd only ever been on a tram that takes you to different Denver airport terminals, so to be on one that takes you through the city was nice because you can look outside and actually see one. We went to Guinness first. It was a self-guided tour of the brewery, and then you get a free taste test and one free drink later on. You have the choice for the second drink to try to pour your own or to just get one on the top floor (8 floors), so we were gutsy and tried learning how to pour it. I'm glad we did! It was fun! Then we got artsy fartsy with our cameras taking pictues of the beer, and us holding the beer and such. Then, we found out they have a photo contest for people who went on the tour! So we're going to have to enter a couple photographs and see if we win! We have some really nice ones. On the top floor was a panoramic view of Dublin. The sun was just at the height where it shines in your eyes so that wasn't the funnest part. Then we went back downstairs and bought a bunch of crap.
After that was Jameson. The tram takes you pretty close to there as well. Guess what. We met a huuuuuge Packer fan behind the counter! He asked where we were from, and when we told him we were from near Chicago in Wisconsin, he went, “Packer fans?” Shelly said “Not really,” and I said, “Yes!” I was excited to meet someone who knew what Amerian football was, and he showed us our wrist band, and it was a Packers one! It was green with a golden embroidered G! So he told us I could come in but maybe not Shelly (kidding of course) and then we were told that we could start drinking right away and bring our drinks with us from the bar. So basically Jameson was all about drinking. I didn't get anything from the bar, but Shelly and Rachel let me try theirs. Shelly and I volunteered for something because, heck, we're in Dublin, we have to do what we can when we can, right? Turned out that at the end of the tour, we had to taste test the whiskey! So now, I have been converted to Jameson. There may be no turning back. We tried five year old scotch, three(?) year old Jameson, and Jack Daniels. Here's Dave, bragging about how the Irish invented whiskey but the Scottish made it drinkable, and every single person chose Jameson. After comparing all of them, I disliked the perfumey flowery Jack Daniels so much that I moved it back instead of forward haha. Such a masculine name and a feminine taste and smell! Not that that's bad, but it reminds me of soap. Scotch is very good. It has a delightful smoky flavor because they make their grist with an open fire with lots of peat so it literally gets smoky. But I have to say Jameson is hands-down the smoothest stuff you'll ever taste with a definite taste and smell of vanilla. Who'd have thought I'd come back from Ireland a whiskey snob? And again, we bought gifts for everyone. That was a bit difficult for me seeing as my tolerance isn't very high so four shots' worth of whiskey at once kind of made me a tad drunk. Plus I was hungry, so I'm sure that wasn't helping.
After that, we had some dinner (yay paninis) and walked back home. Shelly and I showered, and then we all just stayed in our room talking for the rest of the night. Very stimulating conversation. We went over both topics you're not supposed to mention (politics and religion, especially religion). Then we went to bed, but I had a very hard time sleeping. I dozed from midnight until one, then got up and went to the bathroom, and didn't sleep until probably 2:30. I'm very tired this morning. Got up at 8. We'll definitely have to hit up another cafe becuse I'm going to need a coffee fix.
Today is our history themed day. We're getting a bus pass and visiting museums, art galleries, the archives, cathedrals, and Dublin Castle. Bing bang boom, in and out, tourists, here today, gone tomorrow.
Yesterday was fun, even though we only did a couple of things. First, we had breakfast, and decided that we ought to get some real tea/coffee, so stopped by a cafe on our way to the bank. Then we withdrew some cash and bought a day-long tram ticket. I'd only ever been on a tram that takes you to different Denver airport terminals, so to be on one that takes you through the city was nice because you can look outside and actually see one. We went to Guinness first. It was a self-guided tour of the brewery, and then you get a free taste test and one free drink later on. You have the choice for the second drink to try to pour your own or to just get one on the top floor (8 floors), so we were gutsy and tried learning how to pour it. I'm glad we did! It was fun! Then we got artsy fartsy with our cameras taking pictues of the beer, and us holding the beer and such. Then, we found out they have a photo contest for people who went on the tour! So we're going to have to enter a couple photographs and see if we win! We have some really nice ones. On the top floor was a panoramic view of Dublin. The sun was just at the height where it shines in your eyes so that wasn't the funnest part. Then we went back downstairs and bought a bunch of crap.
After that was Jameson. The tram takes you pretty close to there as well. Guess what. We met a huuuuuge Packer fan behind the counter! He asked where we were from, and when we told him we were from near Chicago in Wisconsin, he went, “Packer fans?” Shelly said “Not really,” and I said, “Yes!” I was excited to meet someone who knew what Amerian football was, and he showed us our wrist band, and it was a Packers one! It was green with a golden embroidered G! So he told us I could come in but maybe not Shelly (kidding of course) and then we were told that we could start drinking right away and bring our drinks with us from the bar. So basically Jameson was all about drinking. I didn't get anything from the bar, but Shelly and Rachel let me try theirs. Shelly and I volunteered for something because, heck, we're in Dublin, we have to do what we can when we can, right? Turned out that at the end of the tour, we had to taste test the whiskey! So now, I have been converted to Jameson. There may be no turning back. We tried five year old scotch, three(?) year old Jameson, and Jack Daniels. Here's Dave, bragging about how the Irish invented whiskey but the Scottish made it drinkable, and every single person chose Jameson. After comparing all of them, I disliked the perfumey flowery Jack Daniels so much that I moved it back instead of forward haha. Such a masculine name and a feminine taste and smell! Not that that's bad, but it reminds me of soap. Scotch is very good. It has a delightful smoky flavor because they make their grist with an open fire with lots of peat so it literally gets smoky. But I have to say Jameson is hands-down the smoothest stuff you'll ever taste with a definite taste and smell of vanilla. Who'd have thought I'd come back from Ireland a whiskey snob? And again, we bought gifts for everyone. That was a bit difficult for me seeing as my tolerance isn't very high so four shots' worth of whiskey at once kind of made me a tad drunk. Plus I was hungry, so I'm sure that wasn't helping.
After that, we had some dinner (yay paninis) and walked back home. Shelly and I showered, and then we all just stayed in our room talking for the rest of the night. Very stimulating conversation. We went over both topics you're not supposed to mention (politics and religion, especially religion). Then we went to bed, but I had a very hard time sleeping. I dozed from midnight until one, then got up and went to the bathroom, and didn't sleep until probably 2:30. I'm very tired this morning. Got up at 8. We'll definitely have to hit up another cafe becuse I'm going to need a coffee fix.
Today is our history themed day. We're getting a bus pass and visiting museums, art galleries, the archives, cathedrals, and Dublin Castle. Bing bang boom, in and out, tourists, here today, gone tomorrow.
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Dublin International Youth Hostel
Yesterday, we woke up COOOOLD in Rachel's spare bedroom in Courtmacsherry (the heater wasnt working), took showers, and had breakfast. Then we all took a walk down her street and onto the beach where we could see the where the sea swells up and crashes back down due to a bump in the floor. The smell was something I'll never be able to reproduce: sand, salt, green, rotting things from the sea that got washed up during the last storm. The last one didn't make it unpleasant; it was much like when you have rotting compost and it smells like dirt, except the sea version.
Also, Shelly likes goat cheese. And so do I. She tried an open faced goat cheese sandwich, and let me tell you, that Brie goat cheese was fan.TAS.tic. Some of you crazy people over there said that stuff wasn't good? Are you kidding? It was like mild feta. But maybe you're just buying the wrong stuff. Next time, go for the Brie soft goat cheese that's all mushy in the center with a hard case on the outside, and then you'll be doing it right.
Then, we went to Blarney to kiss the Blarney Stone at Blarney Castle. The castle itself was very interesting. We went in through the front gates, which was at the back of the building, and under the “Murder Hole,” where if they don't want you they just throw sharp or boiling things down at you through a grate in the ceiling. Then, we went in through the great hall and up the stairs to where the tower started. As we climbed the tower, we saw several rooms jutting out from the terrifyingly small-stepped spiral staircase. At the top was a square area where you could look down into the family room at the center and out in all directions. Then we went and kissed the stone. There were two men there – one to hold you as you bent over, and one who took your picture as you kissed it. They were very nice.
As we came back down, the night mist started rolling in over the town and countryside around us. It made for some really awesome photographs. We wandered a bit through the paths that went through the places where the first cave dwellers lived, but we didn't want to get locked inside the castle, so we didn't actually see any caves. By the time we reached the front gates outside, we thought we were locked in, but it's ok. They've devised a spinning door contraption that doesn't let you get locked in. So we left for Dublin as night fell. And then I fell asleep for like an hour. It's really odd that you don't really have to slow down in the fog here because we're so used to looking for deer, but here they don't have any except for domestic deer, so anything that runs out in the road is probably smaller than your tire and is doomed. Unless it's a stray livestock animal. In which case anyone would be confused. (Rachel: “The driver AND the cow! The cow's going, 'What? What are you doing in my field?' And then BANG!” Bye bye cow.)
We found our way to the hostel fairly easily thanks to iPhone GPS. When we arrived, we couldn't get into the parking lot because it was locked so you needed to go inside and get a key. The barbed wire around the lot is probably the most ferocious barbed wire I've ever seen that's not on a prison. It's like RAARRAAAR NOM NOM NOM HUMAN FLESH! Zombie wire. Maybe that's what it's called.
When we were all settled into our room, which locks with an electronic key card so that's good, we took a walk in the city. The city lights here are very nice, especially on the river. We wandered until we found a bar and had beer/cider. I had my first Guinness, right here in Dublin, woo hoo! It was pretty good. Second round was orange juice for me, and Shelly had a pint of Guinness, and Rachel another cider. Then we went back to the hostel and went to bed.
Today, we are going to Guinness and Jameson, and perhaps Belfast or the area of the city from the Medieval times. We'll see!
People let their cats and dogs wander freely. We met a golden retriever, and a man playing ball with his black lab named Lily took a picture of all of us. Then we met a little white dog with brown spots who was frolicking around the beach and followed us for a while, and met his owner, who drove up in a car, picked him up, and drove off. He'd dropped his dog off to walk itself and then we delivered him back, hahaha!
Afterward, we drove to Kinsale for lunch. I had an AMAZING seafood chowder with soda bread and butter. As soon as I had a bite of the chowder, the first word that came to my mind was “fresh.” I asked Rachel if it had been caught recently since we were right next to a sort of port with lots of yachts and boats tied outside, and she said it had probably just been caught the night or day before. So my fish probably wasn't even 24 hours old. It was probably the best chowder I've ever had in my life (sorry Dave).
Also, Shelly likes goat cheese. And so do I. She tried an open faced goat cheese sandwich, and let me tell you, that Brie goat cheese was fan.TAS.tic. Some of you crazy people over there said that stuff wasn't good? Are you kidding? It was like mild feta. But maybe you're just buying the wrong stuff. Next time, go for the Brie soft goat cheese that's all mushy in the center with a hard case on the outside, and then you'll be doing it right.
Then, we went to Blarney to kiss the Blarney Stone at Blarney Castle. The castle itself was very interesting. We went in through the front gates, which was at the back of the building, and under the “Murder Hole,” where if they don't want you they just throw sharp or boiling things down at you through a grate in the ceiling. Then, we went in through the great hall and up the stairs to where the tower started. As we climbed the tower, we saw several rooms jutting out from the terrifyingly small-stepped spiral staircase. At the top was a square area where you could look down into the family room at the center and out in all directions. Then we went and kissed the stone. There were two men there – one to hold you as you bent over, and one who took your picture as you kissed it. They were very nice.
As we came back down, the night mist started rolling in over the town and countryside around us. It made for some really awesome photographs. We wandered a bit through the paths that went through the places where the first cave dwellers lived, but we didn't want to get locked inside the castle, so we didn't actually see any caves. By the time we reached the front gates outside, we thought we were locked in, but it's ok. They've devised a spinning door contraption that doesn't let you get locked in. So we left for Dublin as night fell. And then I fell asleep for like an hour. It's really odd that you don't really have to slow down in the fog here because we're so used to looking for deer, but here they don't have any except for domestic deer, so anything that runs out in the road is probably smaller than your tire and is doomed. Unless it's a stray livestock animal. In which case anyone would be confused. (Rachel: “The driver AND the cow! The cow's going, 'What? What are you doing in my field?' And then BANG!” Bye bye cow.)
We found our way to the hostel fairly easily thanks to iPhone GPS. When we arrived, we couldn't get into the parking lot because it was locked so you needed to go inside and get a key. The barbed wire around the lot is probably the most ferocious barbed wire I've ever seen that's not on a prison. It's like RAARRAAAR NOM NOM NOM HUMAN FLESH! Zombie wire. Maybe that's what it's called.
When we were all settled into our room, which locks with an electronic key card so that's good, we took a walk in the city. The city lights here are very nice, especially on the river. We wandered until we found a bar and had beer/cider. I had my first Guinness, right here in Dublin, woo hoo! It was pretty good. Second round was orange juice for me, and Shelly had a pint of Guinness, and Rachel another cider. Then we went back to the hostel and went to bed.
Today, we are going to Guinness and Jameson, and perhaps Belfast or the area of the city from the Medieval times. We'll see!
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
London Airport
And you thought you were rid of me! Muahahahaaa!
Jess is back. That is, I'm away, which means I have a reason to post here again. I'm writing this post ahead of time, sitting around waiting in the London international airport. The internet here is not free, so I'll have to wait for free wireless to be able to post anything online. A word processor will have to do for now.
So far, it's been quite the adventure, or ordeal, depending on how you want to look at it. We've probably had a total of one hour of sleep plus four hours of dozing off. Right now, my cousin Shelly is curled up on a seat with her head on her backpack not sleeping some more. I decided to write. First, we waited four hours for our flight out of Chicago, after a two hour bus ride from Madison. Then, we waited another two for a seven hour flight. That was ridiculous. The nice thing was we got to watch tv shows and movies for free, and we were served dinner (which I didn't take because I wasn't hungry - we'd already eaten). The downside was it was a seven hour flight, on which it was impossible to sleep, and we became super-dehydrated.
We made it to London, and exchanged our currency. Apparently, the dollar sucks more than I thought it did, which makes the Euro be higher than I thought it was, which is bad news for the wallet...but we'll manage, I am sure. In case you're curious, $400 = 225 euro after deducting the fees for doing the conversion. After that, it took an hour to get through customs because where we were supposed to go was unclear at first. The guy at immigration was nice and said that if we left through his gate we were going to the city of London, but what we really wanted was the gate on the other side of the room separated by glass to get to other international terminals. So when we got THERE, the lady was...really impatient and snippy. So that wasn't fun. She wanted to know everything in the world, I swear. I was waiting for her to ask how many pets I had and what their names were and how long I was going to be wearing my bra for. Finally she stamped our passports and we got through there, and then the next gate did some weird bio check on us...not sure what that was...at all...she took a picture? Maybe it's one of those new fangled full body scanners. Anyway, they were nice, so we got through there with a sticker thing on our passport and went through security. The thinger beeped when I went through, and I'm not entirely sure why unless some accessory I was carrying set it off, so the security guard felt me up very thoroughly and then let me through. Then we unruffled our feathers (aka I got my shoes back on properly and figured out what to do with my bags) and went to get our boarding passes. When we got to Aer Lingus, she was like, “Surprise, we don't have a ticket number for you, and I don't know what the heck is going on with this darn technology!” It was all very confusing but basically got down to the fact that, since Expedia didn't let us book our seats on a foreign airline, we didn't get any technical tickets, even though we had obviously bought them. Anyway, we were five hours early, so that wasn't a problem. It's not like we were in a rush or anything. She wrote them up herself on the computer and printed them out. Then we went to the bathroom in a very remote place where you had to walk into the wall, turn left, turn right, turn left, and turn right again. (Bathrooms here are labelled, “Male/Female Toilet.” Much more straight and to the point.) Then we walked around. This airport is exactly like a mall, except with flight information on TV screens and large seated areas in the middle area between the Chocolate Box and Timberland. (And Fat Face. And FCUK. Yes, it's FCUK. French Connection UK. Duh. What did you think it was?) Then we ate at Giraffe, and since it's really great airport food, it cost us about $50 overall (so $25 each, and that's including the tip). And that was the most affordable place we could find that wasn't fast food. At least the food was really really awesome. I had fish and chips and a smoothie. REAL fish and chips. I'm going to make it for you guys when I get home, now that I know what it's really supposed to be. The restaurants in America don't do it right! Shelly had a salad and the same smoothie. We got to keep the little giraffes they put in your smoothie glass. Mine is yellow, and Shelly's is blue. I'm bringing it home as a reminder of the only meal I ate in London.
And now we're sitting/laying here, because for some dumb reason, our gate doesn't open until 45 minutes before our flight takes off. It's 1:10 right now, and the gate opens at 2:30, and our flight to Shannon, which has not (yet) been cancelled like the one to Dublin was, leaves at 3:15. Let me tell you, we got a liiiittle nervous when we saw that the flight to Dublin was cancelled. But Shannon isn't. The weather must be better there right now, luckily for us.
It is fabled that we will have to provide our fingerprints later, but that's only if I'm reading the babble on the screens correctly. I guess we'll see. It's possible that after today my fingerprint will be circulating out there in the world of fingerprints. Spooky?
Either way, we're going to get on the airplane. Once we get to Shannon, we will find some form of transportation to Limerick, where we will stay for the night. Tomorrow, we travel to Dublin. Perhaps tonight I'll get wi-fi in the hotel. If so, chat later. If not, chat even more later. Either way, I'll try to make some phone calls once I hit Ireland.
I'm sooooo exhausted. Over and out.
Jess is back. That is, I'm away, which means I have a reason to post here again. I'm writing this post ahead of time, sitting around waiting in the London international airport. The internet here is not free, so I'll have to wait for free wireless to be able to post anything online. A word processor will have to do for now.
So far, it's been quite the adventure, or ordeal, depending on how you want to look at it. We've probably had a total of one hour of sleep plus four hours of dozing off. Right now, my cousin Shelly is curled up on a seat with her head on her backpack not sleeping some more. I decided to write. First, we waited four hours for our flight out of Chicago, after a two hour bus ride from Madison. Then, we waited another two for a seven hour flight. That was ridiculous. The nice thing was we got to watch tv shows and movies for free, and we were served dinner (which I didn't take because I wasn't hungry - we'd already eaten). The downside was it was a seven hour flight, on which it was impossible to sleep, and we became super-dehydrated.
We made it to London, and exchanged our currency. Apparently, the dollar sucks more than I thought it did, which makes the Euro be higher than I thought it was, which is bad news for the wallet...but we'll manage, I am sure. In case you're curious, $400 = 225 euro after deducting the fees for doing the conversion. After that, it took an hour to get through customs because where we were supposed to go was unclear at first. The guy at immigration was nice and said that if we left through his gate we were going to the city of London, but what we really wanted was the gate on the other side of the room separated by glass to get to other international terminals. So when we got THERE, the lady was...really impatient and snippy. So that wasn't fun. She wanted to know everything in the world, I swear. I was waiting for her to ask how many pets I had and what their names were and how long I was going to be wearing my bra for. Finally she stamped our passports and we got through there, and then the next gate did some weird bio check on us...not sure what that was...at all...she took a picture? Maybe it's one of those new fangled full body scanners. Anyway, they were nice, so we got through there with a sticker thing on our passport and went through security. The thinger beeped when I went through, and I'm not entirely sure why unless some accessory I was carrying set it off, so the security guard felt me up very thoroughly and then let me through. Then we unruffled our feathers (aka I got my shoes back on properly and figured out what to do with my bags) and went to get our boarding passes. When we got to Aer Lingus, she was like, “Surprise, we don't have a ticket number for you, and I don't know what the heck is going on with this darn technology!” It was all very confusing but basically got down to the fact that, since Expedia didn't let us book our seats on a foreign airline, we didn't get any technical tickets, even though we had obviously bought them. Anyway, we were five hours early, so that wasn't a problem. It's not like we were in a rush or anything. She wrote them up herself on the computer and printed them out. Then we went to the bathroom in a very remote place where you had to walk into the wall, turn left, turn right, turn left, and turn right again. (Bathrooms here are labelled, “Male/Female Toilet.” Much more straight and to the point.) Then we walked around. This airport is exactly like a mall, except with flight information on TV screens and large seated areas in the middle area between the Chocolate Box and Timberland. (And Fat Face. And FCUK. Yes, it's FCUK. French Connection UK. Duh. What did you think it was?) Then we ate at Giraffe, and since it's really great airport food, it cost us about $50 overall (so $25 each, and that's including the tip). And that was the most affordable place we could find that wasn't fast food. At least the food was really really awesome. I had fish and chips and a smoothie. REAL fish and chips. I'm going to make it for you guys when I get home, now that I know what it's really supposed to be. The restaurants in America don't do it right! Shelly had a salad and the same smoothie. We got to keep the little giraffes they put in your smoothie glass. Mine is yellow, and Shelly's is blue. I'm bringing it home as a reminder of the only meal I ate in London.
And now we're sitting/laying here, because for some dumb reason, our gate doesn't open until 45 minutes before our flight takes off. It's 1:10 right now, and the gate opens at 2:30, and our flight to Shannon, which has not (yet) been cancelled like the one to Dublin was, leaves at 3:15. Let me tell you, we got a liiiittle nervous when we saw that the flight to Dublin was cancelled. But Shannon isn't. The weather must be better there right now, luckily for us.
It is fabled that we will have to provide our fingerprints later, but that's only if I'm reading the babble on the screens correctly. I guess we'll see. It's possible that after today my fingerprint will be circulating out there in the world of fingerprints. Spooky?
Either way, we're going to get on the airplane. Once we get to Shannon, we will find some form of transportation to Limerick, where we will stay for the night. Tomorrow, we travel to Dublin. Perhaps tonight I'll get wi-fi in the hotel. If so, chat later. If not, chat even more later. Either way, I'll try to make some phone calls once I hit Ireland.
I'm sooooo exhausted. Over and out.
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