I believe I mentioned here what our big plans were, and man did we make the right decision. I was a little skeptical about this trip, seeings as many of the stops the ol' ship made weren't exactly virgin territory to me (Waaaaa, I know!). I have been to the UK more times than I can count, and I have done plenty of the touristy necessities. But, on the flip side, I have never been without mom and dad, and the last time I did anything touristy I was younger and failed to appreciate the beauty and history that exists across the pond. John and I made a quick trip over to Dublin during one of our UK journeys, but we were 19 and ran outta cash quick (Dublin has to be one of the most expensive cities in Europe). Furthermore, a lot of time had passed since my last visit to Gay Pari, and I was excited to practice my French skills once again. So, on Aug 9th we took off for Southampton and on Aug 10th we set sail!
Side Note: My mom was actually born in Southampton and spent the first 10 (give or take) years of her life there. If we get technical here, she's a blimey Englishwoman. My grandparents relocated to England from Scotland while my grandpa worked as a sailor for the Queen Mary. In it's hay day, the old QM docked in Southampton. It was cool leaving out of the same harbour that my gramps used to frequent.
Our first stop was Guernsey/St Peter's Port. Where is Guernsey, do you ask? Well, it's this little treat of an island city (think Catalina, CA peeps, but better). It's located in the English Channel, and is one of the Channel Islands located just a hop, skip, and a jump (or rather a swim) from Normandy. In fact, many Guernsey residents take a 45 min ferry over to France for dinner. How cool would that be? The coolest place 45 min from where I live is downtown LA, which is not that cool. Not that cool at all. But, I will save my utter detest for LA for another post. A few more fun facts about Guernsey:
-It is not part of the UK or the European Union
-It's nearly impossible to buy property there...you pretty much have to have been born there, share residence with someone who lives there, or qualify for a housing license, which is only valid for a fixed amount of time. It's quite the exclusive little island, and once you travel there, you'll understand why. It's gorgeous!
-People there are very superstitious. Almost every house has a little stoop mounted somewhere around the roof on on the outer walls. This stoop is for witches to sit on and rest. This polite gesture keeps them from tormenting the people inside the house. How thoughtful.
-The book "The Guernsey Literary and and Potato Peel Pie Society" really painted a great picture of Guernsey and by coincidence I read it about a year before we made this trip. It's a really great book and it made me excited to visit this quaint little town.
OK, now that the history lesson is over, I'll tell you about our stop. We rented bikes and did a bike tour around the whole island. For a part of the world that has sunshine about 3 days a year, we got incredibly lucky the entire trip. We had perfect weather. Blue skies, sunshine, not too hot, not too cold. We got to tour the amazing homes, churches, and landscape, but since we were on our bikes most of the time, I wasn't able to get too many pictures...I'm not that well-coordinated.
Here's what Guernsey looks like:
Docking at St Peter's Port
Taking a break from our bikes for a photo opp
Our second stop was Cork, Cobh, Ireland. Amazing. Even though I didn't think it would be possible, each place we went topped the place before. Cobh (pronounced Cove) is a great little seaside town.
Here are some fun facts about Cobh:
-Cobh port was the departure point for the 6 million + Irish emigrants who came to North America during the famine.
-Cobh Harbour was the last port of call for the Titanic on it's Maiden Voyage. Unfortunately, as we all know, it never made it there.
-The Titanic weighed it's anchor at Cobh for the last time, and set sail towards icy waters. 123 passengers boarded the ship in Cobh.
-Not far from Cork is the city of Blarney, where the Blarney Castle stands. It is here where you can stand in line for 2 hours to kiss a stone that 23904823908239058239058490584 people have kissed before you.
-Legend has it that kissing the blarney stone will give you "blarney", which is the "ability to coax with fair words and soft speech without giving offense" otherwise known as the ability to bullshit.
We quickly ventured outside the walls of Cobh and into the medieval stronghold of Blarney. We weren't intimidated by the mile long line around the castle and up the narrow stairs of the tower-we were kissing that stone! We laughed afterwards because the workers at Blarney Castle really have that process down to a science. They are very militant about it, and you can't really spend time getting to know the stone. It's very slam, bam, thank-you ma'am. No time for formalities. It's also very awkward to reach, and it involves lying on your back, and have some old toothless character drag you off the side of the tower's edge and under a ledge where you have to practice your yoga inversions in order to peck the stone. But, it's one of things that you just have to do if you find yourself in Blarney. I do have to say that my ability to "speak softly without giving offense" does not seem to improved.
Blarney Castle-I swear, anytime we visit anything of historical importance, it's under construction- and despite what you may think, scaffolding doesn't make for a framer...
Couldn't Resist!
Climbing the tower of Blarney Castle
Kissing the stone-note the giant wet spot...gross
John getting his Blarney on
Next stop, Dublin, which was basically the reason for the trip. We planned an excursion to the Guinness Factory aka Guinness Storehouse aka St. James's Gate (Gotta love the Catholics' appreciation for booze). Here are some fun facts about the "Storehouse"
-was once the largest brewery in the world, but still holds the title of the largest brewer of stout in the world.
-The Storehouse is not the brewery-that's across the street. The Storehouse is a museum dedicated to all things Guinness. It's 7 stories high and is shaped like a pint glass. An effect you can only see from a distance. The "rim" of the pint glass is the circular viewing tower at the top which is 360 degrees of windows and overlooks the entire city of Dublin. In the center of this circular room is a circular bar.
-Their main product is Guinness Draught and is one of the most successful beer brands worldwide.
-There is a bar inside the museum that has little tables affixed with their very own taps. All you thirsty patrons have to do is put in 20 Euro and you can fill up your mug until you fall over or until closing time-whatever comes first. This is a real bargain considering the cocktail I purchased at a bar in Dublin cost about 15 buckeroos!
After our tour of the museum, we decided to bail from our tour group and see Dublin on our own. We befriended a cabbie who knew the lay of the land and took us to all the best bars. We went to the Clarence Hotel, which is owned by U2. We then ventured to O'Donoghue's, which is the local bar where the Dubliner's got their start. We sat and drank there for most of the afternoon before O'Cabbie (I can't for the life of me remember his name) picked us up. We had just enough time to get an authentic fish and chip supper, and made it back to our ship with about 30 min to spare before it pulled away.
There She Is!
Having a drink at the top of the storehouse, enjoying a view over Dublin
Cheers!
We spent a fair amount of our day here
Our next stop was Liverpool. Since I have already written over 1,300 words, I'll keep this one short. All in all, Liverpool was cool, yo. I had heard that it wasn't that nice, but let me tell you, I heard wrong. The Fab Four should be proud to call Liverpool home. We toured the city, and also visited some of the must see Beatles stops.
A necessary stop when in Liverpool
Next on the list was one of the absolute highlights of the trip. Belfast-Northern Ireland. Antrim Coast to be specific. This place is like a frickin post card. We docked in Belfast and quickly scooted out and began the long trek to the coast (about 3 hours) to see Giant's Causeway. Here are some facts:
-The causeway is the result of a volcanic eruption
-It was named the 4th natural wonder of the UK
-Legend has it that Irish warrior (and giant) built the "steps" to use as stepping stone to cross the water over to Scotland. It's actually a much longer story than that, but I've run outta steam!
This place is amazing. See for yourself.
I have about 100 more pics of this and they all look like postcards or screensavers.
Our next several stops were to Scotland. Glasgow, Edinburgh, and Inverness to be exact. I'd been to all three stops many, many times before, but we did get to do one thing I had never done and that was attend the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo. Every year in August, the military tattoo is held in the Edinburgh castle. I somehow have managed to never see this before, despite making several trips to Scotland in Aug. It was take-your-breath-away incredible. I would tell you to check out footage on youtube, but it won't do it justice. Pipe and drum bands perform from all over the world, including the Citadel Military College from South Carolina-reppin' the USA. It is a MUST do if you ever find yourself in Scotland in August.
We paid a visit to the Highlands of Scotland, which are breathtakingly beautiful. We were a tad under the weather on this day due to befriending the cruise director the night before and drinking for free until the wee hours of the morning. However, we managed to rally and we had a nice little day.
Yay! We got to meet up for a night on the town with my Auntie Carol and Nic!
A little hungover the next day after said night on the town
Urquhart Castle in the Scottish Highlands
Searching for the Loch Ness Monster...never did get a glimpse of old Nessie-she must have been feeling shy!
After 10 days w/out my coffee fix, I was a happy camper...so Ammmericann of me ; )
Getting seated for the Edinburgh Tattoo-that's the castle in case you were wondering
All lit up for the Tattoo
Our final stop was Paris. Actually, La Havre to be exact. Paris was a couple of hours away. La Havre is the port right near Normandy. John wanted to do some WW2 Normandy beach tours, but what's more romantic for a honeymoon, touring the beach where tens of thousands of people died, or strolling around Paris for the day?? John and I had been to the south of France together a few years back, and I have been to Paris before, but not w/ J. Many things were different in Paris this time round. 1. I was not with French peeps like the last time I was there. 2. I seem to have been quite out of practice in the language that I was once so proficient in. But, some things remained the same-the Eiffel Tower is just as glorious, Notre Dame is just as spectacular, and the crepes are just as amazing as I remember.
Monsieur Eiffel Tower
A little self-portrait action
Yummm! Finally getting my crepes!
After we docked back in Southampton, our great friend Chris picked us up and took us back to his house for the weekend. We spent the day touring his local town in the countryside of England, and we got to have a drink at a bar frequented by Phil Collins. OK, that's the grand summary of our trip. We had a day or two at sea in between all these stops, and we had nights to explore the ship. It was a big joke the entire time that John and I were the youngest cruisers by about 30 years. Seriously, there were probably more oxygen tanks than 20-somethings on this cruise. This def affected the night life on the ship. For lack of anything better to do, we racked up quite the bar tab every night. That's where the cruise ships get ya! But, we had an amazing time and I wish I could close my eyes and click my heels and be back on that ship. It was a glorious escape from reality. We are planning our next trip back for this summer to celebrate our 1 year anniversary. I can’t wait!
