Update :)

Hello everyone!

I hear Brisbane has been having a bit of heat wave. How's everyone enjoying the warmth? The weather here has been really good, we had a clear day for the Stonehenge trip.

I am back in London, after a trip out to Bath (and a day trip to Stonehenge, Avebury and a couple of small villages). Bath was really cool (Photos are up). I liked the Roman Baths. The water tasted strange, though (not from the baths directly, they pump it out of the aquifer). The trip out to Stonehenge was ok. The tourguide was rather uninteresting after the others that we'd had. What he was saying seemed a little rehearsed, and he would trail off in the middle of a sentence and not come back to finish it. Stonehenge itself was interesting, but I think that the stone circles that you can walk right up to in Scotland were more interesting. Avebury was good too, but the stop there felt a little bit rushed.

Sarah and I went up Tower Bridge yesterday afternoon and even managed to catch it opening. I went to the Tower of London this afternoon. The Yeoman Warder tour was really good.

Hope everything is going well for everyone,

Alison

Re: Holiday Update

Hello all!

Sorry for the delay in updating. Internet connection has been difficult to get for long enough to type up an email. We've finished our Ireland tour and we're now in Edinburgh.

Ireland was really pretty and fascinating. We stayed in Belfast, Derry (both Northern Ireland), Galway, Annascaul, Kilarney and visited lots of little places in between.

• Drogheda - St Oliver Plunkett's relics, including his severed head...
• Monasterboice - an old monastery and graveyard
• Belfast - Taxi tour into the more "dangerous"  areas with a local explanation of events during the seventies and tensions that are still running high now. That was a real eye opener.
  
• Derry - Tour with a local around the city walls, looking at the history of the town. Also looked at the murals on the walls of the catholic area. On the way to Derry, we stopped at the Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge and the Giants Causeway while it was raining. Some of the other people got reallly wet after being caught down at the bridge when the heaviest downpour hit. Giant's Causeway was fun - and slippery. We had a poke around the pools at the edge and saw a couple of little fish, as well as looking at the rocks.
• Galway -  Stopped at Knock on the way to Galway; a sight where there was an apparition of the Virgin Mary at some point and at the grave of WB Yeats. Stone ring, Strandhill
  
• Annascaul -  Castle with the curtain wall intact (look up name), stopped at a beach (water was cold, but refreshing), limestone exploration down the coast a little way - some interesting fossils. Stopped at Cliffs of Moher. The weather cleared up just as we were arriving, which meant some great photos.
  
• Killarney - Didn't have time to do much in town, as Kate and I took the opportunity to go horse riding! It was great fun. 
• Last day was back to Dublin via Blarney Castle (to kiss the Blarney Stone, and a bit of an exploration of the grounds. I went into the "dungeon" tunnel. It was wet and damp, but really fun. We also explored a cave that was in the rock under the castle.  One back in Dublin, we went for a tour of the Guinness Storehouse at St. James' Gate, and a pint of the black stuff.

We're in Edinburgh at the moment, and have spent most of the day wandering around. Spent three hours this morning looking at the Museum (yay for free entertainment), and wandering High Street, collecting brochures for comedy shows. The people here seem really friendly - there's a different air to the city than there was anywhere in Ireland. I wish I could spend more time here, I think, but I guess that I should see some other parts of the country while I'm here too... *sigh*. Sarah and I went into a tourist shop this morning and the manage pointed out a few things that we should see :).

We have another day in Edinburgh tomorrow. I'll probably do the free walking tour and go to some of the comedy shows, then its off on another tour (yay...?) on Tuesday.

I'll put some photos up tonight :)

Alla





- Cross posted to http://mytimefortravel.blogspot.com -

On Tue, Aug 11, 2009 at 2:51 PM, Alison Troup <alison.troup@gmail.com> wrote:

11/08/09

We've headed north from Belfast and stopped at the Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge and Giant's Causeway, both are really beautiful and dramatically different coastlines despite being just around the corner. It rained for most of the morning, but once we got to the causeway it stopped, but it was still cloudy. 

Sent from my iPod

Begin forwarded message:

From: Alison Troup <alison.troup@gmail.com>
Date: 11 August 2009 9:06:20
To: Alison Troup <alison.troup@gmail.com>
Subject: Holiday Update

Hello all!

We've started on our paddywagon tour. Yesterday we left Dublin for Belfast, stopping at Drogheda (to see St. Oliver Plunkett's relics - including his head) and Monasterboice (an old monastery with two large Celtic crosses.

Belfast was interesting and eye opening. We went on a taxi tour of West Belfast with running commentary  from the driver and stopping in the catholic and prodestant areas to look at the murals commemorating people and events relating to the fighting. There is a wall with gates that close at night between two areas that are exclusively prodestant and catholic.

We went out for dinner with the rest of our tour group last night and then had a bit more of a look around town close to the hostel. The Uni's main building is amazing.

We're headed for Derry tonight via the Carrick-a-rede rope bridge and the Giants Causeway.

Alla

- Cross posted to http://mytimefortravel.blogspot.com -


Sent from my iPod

--
Alla

Bray Photos are up on face book

Hi Everyone,

Went down to Bray today and took some photos. They can be found on Facebook.

Am sitting around waiting for Kate and Sarah to show up. I hope they come soon - I'm hungry and want dinner...

Alla

I'm in Dublin!

Hi everyone,

I don't have any mobile connection in Dublin, so its going to be email updates. Have arrived, and checked in (well, I did that yesterday) and I had a bit of a poke around the shopping area of town. I'm going to walk down to the Temple Bar area to have a look at the markets this morning.

The best thing is, I'm not feeling tired :)

How is everyone down there?

Alla

Heathrow is rather boring...

Hello from Heathrow.

 

flight was delayed with engineerinng problems in dubai, but that seems to have been a blessing in disguise - there isn't that much to do this side of security, and  cann't go through til 1045...

 

any way net time is running out, so  have t go,

 

hope everything is good at your end.

 

Alla

Hello from Brunei Airport!

Hi everyone,

I've found a free computer at  Brunei Airport, so I thought I would send out an update, which isn't much, other than that I've arrived in Brunei. I have a four hour layover, with very little to do here... There is a thunderstorm looming here, hopefully it won't cause delays with the flight out. Inflight entertainment was good, once the screen started working.

Alla

Cross posted to http://mytimefortravel.blogspot.com

4 Sleeps until I leave... I'm a little bit nervous, but I guess that's natural. If anyone is reading this, feel free to invite others to read it too - I don't mind sharing my exploits with random people :)