The Emerald Isle (and beyond)

Ok, we started this while we were still in London but crappy wifi stopped us from finishing. We are home but I thought we should tell you a few more things.....

Been without Internet for a few days and a lot has happened. We have one more day left of our vacation so I will try to keep this short and sweet.

Took the train from Edinburgh to London on Friday, pretty uneventful but a good trip. Arrived at kings cross to find a lot of it under construction meaning I didn't get to see platform 9 3/4 - boo found a trolley and away we went to figure out the tube. After calling it the L and the tube and mixing them up I have now just decided to call it the lube! :0) not too hard to figure out. Had a very nice ticket man give us a few tips, bought passes and we were on our way. Got off at the station stop I was hoping was correct and found our hotel about a block away! Score.

Fish and chips with some beer for dinner and off to bed early for us! Tomorrow was gonna be a long day...

Up and out the door before 6am, a little panic because the taxi wasn't there, some running in the train station (well I ran, Jamie walked fast!!) and we made it to the euro star for the ride to Paris!!! Phew that was close.

A nice two hour ride and we were there. Found our tour lady and the first stop, the Eiffel Tower! Its huge (that's what she said)! Left the tour group to explore on our own and away we went. Love the open top bus tours! Lots of fun and great views. Off to the Louvre and Notre Dame and the River Seine and the arch de triumph and so many other napoleon inspired buildings I can't remember. Stopped for a cafe on a corner bistro and had crepes and a baguette with hot dogs and cheese! Yum. More sightseeing to be had so we walked down the champes eslyesse (sp) and peered into the fancy shops. Next stop... The hard rock so I could get my shot glass. Might as well have dinner - ok. Dinner had we trekked back to the meeting spot for the tour group so our tour lady could get us safely on the euro star back home. Off we went to the train station and while there waiting for the train to arrive and depart we saw a duty free wine store, let's go check it out. A purchase of four small bottles (the cashier even gave Jamie plastic cups to use!!) and our train was ready for us to board. Ended up sharing the seats with a couple of ladies that were on the tour with us and one of them was very nice and gave us tips on travelling in London and England in general. Four bottles of wine later and a few bites of some Swiss chocolate we bought and we were "home", London that is.

Woke the next day a leisurely time and slowly worked our way across the road to Garfunkel's for breakfast before entering the Lube to head out for our Stonehenge tour. Arrived at the tour office and got on the bus and away we went. The bus driver was very nice and very funny, he might have even been more sarcastic than me.... Stonehenge... big, old, stone, gray, awesome. I loved the audio tour (the parts I paid attention to!) took lots of photos, had a snack and back on the bus for a couple of hours.

While on said bus Jamie and I decided we would try to go and see a musical while we were in London so walked around the theater district trying to find an open ticket office - no such luck. We will come back tomorrow and buy discount tickets from the tour company. Decided to have dinner in China town, it was good but they don't really like spicy food there so my kung pow was like kung phewie but hey I had my first ever successful chopstick experience, I ate my entire meal with chopsticks!! Yeah me : ' )

Woke the next morning ready for our hop on hop off of London. Made our way out for breakfast and some more Lube riding (dirty!!). Got our bus tickets and away we went! Had such a blast, that really is the way to see a city, no walking, a breeze in your hair and the tour guy tells you everything you would ever want to know and then some. Saw Elton John's condo and JK Rowlings house amongst things like Big Ben and stuff. Walked a bit and went on the London Eye!! Way cool and a little scary when you get to the top, it is really high and not much holding you in place. Tons of photos and an all in all fun day. We were beat but up beat!! Away we went for food and to find the theater for our musical. Which musical did we pick??? We Will Rock You - all based around Queen music. It was great. So much fun and of course we did the stomp, stomp, clap!!!! Totally worth it.

Back to the hotel for last minute packing and to bed we went ready for our flight back home!!!

- - - No photos this time since we already posted them to facebook - - -

Thanks to everyone who read our little blog and joined in on our adventure. I can't speak for Jamie but I had such a great time. Now that I am home it is sinking in more and more what an amazing trip we had and how lucky we were to have such a great time and experience everything we did.

Yesterday started off with beautiful weather and a trip out to a pretty awesome castle, Tantallon. About an hour away and on the coast it was a magnificent sight. Lots of staircases taking us to different sections of the castle. Well into ruins yet still enough of it to get a feel for what it was in it's glory days!

A trip down the road to what Tom Tom said was a beach... Ended up at a dead end which happened to be a family fun park. Umm... Kids, candy and tired parents - no thanks. A quick u turn and we were off to the airport to return the car. Dumb Tom Tom!

Found the airpor car return with relative ease :0) only a few moments of where the h@ll do we go (intersections with like 6 stops and rotaries (round abouts) with four lanes and six exits). Off to the buses and to ride in the upper deck. It was funny riding in the top portion, definently a better view. We sat in the front seats up top and it looked like we are going to cream small cars all the time!!

Into the city center we went to go and see Grey Friars Kirk. Pretty cool headstones and the church was pretty and had a huge organ (would have loved to hear it play). A quick ride back to the b&b for a nap. Nap done - check and back into the city for dinner. Where to go? Dirty dicks!!! Good food and Jamie and I decided to have some scotch. Cant go to Scotland and not have scotch. So after parusing the list of 500 kinds we settled on a couple that sounded good. We were both shocked at how good they were, given that neither of us liked scotch before. Well now we sing a different tune. Yummmm

Our last day in Scotland called for a little bit of lazy time this morning before we headed up to do the castle. A very very rainy tour of Edinburgh castle but it was very impressive. Saw the crown jewels, huge!!! Meandered about saw some cool stuff but ready to head to the other end of the royal mile to the Holyrood Palace. A long wet but productive walk (bought some yummy scotch along the way) and we arrived. Nice to be inside out of the rain. Took the tour and saw the royal dinning room and the room that the queen uses to present appreciation awards to people. A quick peak into Mary Queen of Scots bedroom and the chamber where king James was born. Pretty cool, lots of history, very interesting.

At last onto dinner. Empty bellies, tired backs, sore feet and soaked... Time for beer and burgers. Feeling good we trekked back to the b&b and here were are, relaxing till tomorrow. Early day, on the train to London.

Chip Chip Cheerio!!

Theresa