Three Countries in 17 Days - Part 2: England

Our next country to explore was England, especially London and the surrounding area. Just a heads up that England will be split into three shorter, and by shorter I mean shorter then what I normally do which is still a lot, posts because we crammed so much in! It felt like Kaleen and I never stopped, we just kept on going and going!

Kaleen and I took the hour long train from Birmingham to Oxford the following morning. We made the hike up to my room me pointing out things along the way like the History Faculty building, the Bodleian library, the Museum of the History of Science and such that were on the way. After we dropped our stuff off I gave Kaleen the quick tour of Oxford which means we walked around and I tried to remember which college was which and give her little tidbits about them such as Brasenose College is called that because it used to have a brass nose as a door knocker on its front door. We thought we would go into Christ Church College because some scenes from Harry Potter were filmed there, but when we got there we decided it was such as nice day that we would rather spend it outside wandering through Christ Church Meadow which I have never been in. It was quite large and even had a place for people to go punting! I have to sadly admit, the Meadow had better internet connection then my room does. Earlier that day Kaleen had been trying to send her mom an email, but it wouldn't work from my room. As soon as we stepped into the field it worked! After I showed Kaleen Oxford we went and picked up some groceries and returned to my room to spend the night preparing to go to London and we watched movies. We had planned on going to Stratford-upon-Avon the next day, where Shakespeare came from, but we decided that we had so much to do in London that we would rather have an extra day there, so we changed our plans. Next stop London!

The following day we hopped on the train and headed to London! We braved the underground to get to the hotel we were going to be staying at that night. The rest of our nights in London were spent at a hostel, but more on that later. Once we got to the hotel we decided to cross one of the things off our list, Hever Castle. Hever Castle was the childhood home of Anne Boleyn, the second wife of King Henry the VIII, and King Henry spent time here trying to woo Anne. We had to take a train to a nearby station and then walk to the castle.  There was a map on their website explaining how to get there using footpaths through fields, and there was a sign that said castle this way. We followed that path, but it ended at a field of sheep. There was a gate into the field, but we weren't sure if we were allowed to go into it or not. There were many sheep and lambs inside. There was one little lamb that saw us and then started to prance over in a every uncoordinated cute way. We decided not to go down that path and take another that went off to one side. That path led to a private driveway that seemed to lead to a very nice looking house. We snuck our way down the driveway and onto the road and followed that to the castle.  Near the castle there was a small village, or you could say one pub called King Henry VIII's pub.

    

Walking towards the gates to the castle and its surrounding land was pretty cool. It was fun to also experience it with someone who never has been to a castle before and even though I'll never loose my excitement and joy at seeing castles it made me more excited. As we went through the gate we walked into an expansive green field and garden, something which all the castles and houses we visited on this trip seemed to still have. You got the feeling of what it must have been like to live here in the Middle Ages, Renaissance and even more recently. A family lived in this building up until the 1950's if I remember correctly when it became to expensive to maintain as a living residence and there was a flood which damaged a lot of the property. The outside of the castle was beautiful. You could see on the front were the vines grew up along the stone. There was a drawbridge with a moat and in the moat there were colourful koi fish which were huge! You definitely got the feeling that they were fed a lot. There were multiple mazes on the property although we only went into the yew maze. It wasn't too hard, either that or we're expert maze solvers! One thing that I found interesting about this place and many other Tudor buildings is that they don't mention the fact that Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard were both executed. I know it's something you don't want to flaunt, but it just seemed to be skipped over. After exploring the castle and the gardens for a couple of hours we headed back. We decided to take the other footpath on the map which looked much more straight forward; however, as we started heading down it we encountered two huge mud puddles, or should I call them lakes! We got around the first one, but we had to walk on a fence to pass the second one. My shoes got covered in mud and the shoes laces are still stiff from the mud no matter how much I clean them. Kaleen got scratched by a tree. It wasn't a terrible injury, but we had forgotten bandaids, so we had nothing to stop the bleeding until we got back. We made it back to the train station all muddy and headed back into London where we explored what was along the river as we made it back to our hotel. We saw the Globe Theatre and a ship which I can't remember the name of!  After we grabbed some supper we spent the evening cleaning our shoes and planning the following day.

Hever Castle

Shoes before and after

The next day we got on a hop-on hop-off bus tour. When we got to the first stop to buy a ticket there were three bus companies there. The day before we had agreed on which one we wanted, but when we got there someone from another company cornered us and we're both not good at saying no, so we ended up with Golden Tours which had not so good tour recordings of the sights and wasn't reliable when it came to pick up times. It did do its job of getting us from point A to point B, but I wouldn't recommend that bus tour group. We still had fun and made the most of it. The first place we got off the bus was at the Tower of London which was one of our must see places. The Tower of London is much bigger then I thought it was! We decided to start by walking along the walls and through the guard towers, but it took over an hour just to do that. It was fun though seeing all the different areas and you could tell when things were built. Also, that is where they had most of the history relating to the tower. After we went into the White Tower in the centre which was full of armour. It was really busy inside, so it was hard to get to plaques to read, but the armour was still shiny and interesting. We saw some armour of King Henry VIII which was huge, but it said that at the point it was made that he was too big to fit into it. The crown jewels were also at the Tower, but the line was so long and neither of us had a great interest in it that we passed. We saw the ravens which have their wings clipped in order not to leave the premise because of an old tale about England will fall if there aren't ravens on the Tower's ground. It would have been interesting to learn about Anne Boleyn's time here as a prisoner, but they just had information about the changes she made as queen. Also, information about the princes in the tower would have added some interesting historical information, but I guess since not much is known about that it is understandable that it is not included. After the Tower we got back on the bus and went to Westminster Abbey. The Abbey was very impressive inside and out! No pictures were allowed to be taken inside, so sadly I don't have any. However, all of the tombs and people buried there is impressive. There seems to be no spaced left. All the walls, floors and spaces in between seemed to be full. You can be walking along and turn your head and notice that you're standing right next to the body of a medieval king! Along with kings and queens there were also scientists, writers, and other famous people. General Wolfe is buried there and on his grave there are two Canadian flags from the First World War all worn and in tatters. After the First World War had finished Canadian soldiers put these flags on his tomb as a mark and remembrance of their role in helping England. The Canadian government asked that the flags remain and they are still there. Here's a link to it: General Wolfe Tomb. There was some particular things about Westminster Abbey like how Queen Mary, aka Bloody Mary, and Queen Elizabeth I are right next to each other even though they hated each other. Also King James I mother, Queen Mary of Scotland, is here, but that is because King James I moved her because in an attempt to make up for how he treated her. It would have been nice to have a map of all the tombs, or at least the royal ones. It was difficult to see who was missing and buried elsewhere with so many people! After Westminster Abbey we got back on the bus and finished the tour. By the time it was over it was already 7pm, so we found something to eat and headed back to the hostel for the night. At this hostel we shared a room with four other people and two of them snored! It got to the point that they would snore at different times so that the noise was constant. Needless to say we didn't sleep well that night and the next day we planned on getting up early. 

Changing the guards at the Tower of London

The London Eye

Westminster Abbey

The next post will be the following two days in London! 

Three Countries in 17 Days - Part 1: Ireland

I had a week between my family leaving and my good friend Kaleen coming. During that time I did some work and a lot of laundry in preparation for Kaleen's visit, but it was quickly time for me to make a trip to Dublin, Ireland to meet her! It was a long journey to Dublin, but a nice relaxing one and very picturesque.

Instead of flying I decided to take the train and a ferry. It was going to be my first time on a ferry, so I was really excited! I departed on April 2nd and took the train north up to Holyhead which is technically in Wales, and because it was a thursday the train wasn't too busy so I got nice seats the whole way there and that allowed for a lot of gazing out of the window at sheep, grass, water, and windmills in water! I had never seen windmills in the middle of water before and when I did it blew my mind. When Kaleen and I made the trip back from Ireland I found the windmills so fascinating that I had to point them out to her. I got to Holyhead and safely made it onto the ferry. It was much bigger then I thought it would be. There were more then 9 floors! I sat down next to a window and somehow started talking to two other girls my age sitting next to me. One was from the US and was doing an exchange in Austria, and the other girl was working in Oxford. They were both really nice and talking to them made the 4 hour boat ride go faster. I liked taking the ferry. I didn't really notice the rocking of the boat except for when I stood up and moved around and then it felt really awkward. At one point I went up onto the outside top deck and enjoyed the rain and the wind along with the view of never ending water! I have been out into the ocean before, but this felt different. You couldn't seen land on any sides and it made me feel very small. On a map the distance between the two points didn't seem that big, but once you're on a boat you realize how much space and water there actually is! Once I made it to the docks I realized that I had forgotten to take out Euros, so there was no way for me to pay for a bus ride or a taxi, so I walked an hour to my hotel. Once I had gotten out of the dock district it was a pretty nice and easy walk! That night I spent my time in my hotel room enjoying having easy access to a TV, since I don't have one in my room at Oxford, and planning how to get to the airport the next day to get Kaleen.

 The next morning I hopped on a bus that went directly to the airport and it stopped right outside the hotel I stayed at that night and the hostel Kaleen and I were going to be staying at. It was a quick ride and I got there just after Kaleen's flight was supposed to arrive, but like most flights it was late. It was fine because there was an Ireland tourist information centre where I went and picked up a bunch of maps and pamphlets about things to do. When Kaleen arrived we got back on the bus and dropped our stuff off at the hostel where we had gotten a private two person room. In order to keep Kaleen awake we decided to explore the city. We wandered around the shopping districts and saw what was in the vicinity of the hostel. A lot of the tourist attractions, like museums, were closed it being Good Friday. The whole weekend was pretty much us wandering around finding something to do. We didn't really think it through when we chose to go to a Catholic country on Easter weekend. We saw Dublin Castle which isn't that much of a castle. We achieved our goal of keeping Kaleen awake until after we ate and into the evening. When we went back to the hostel later that night the guy at the desk asked if we wanted any suggestions on stuff to do. We didn't, but he said how he and the other staff were trying to find places for people to go drinking since it's illegal in Ireland to sell alcohol on Good Friday. The only place that was selling alcohol was the dog racing, so they were sending everyone there. That didn't appeal to Kaleen and I, also she was very tired, so we just stayed in and chatted.

 

Me trying to climb onto a chair in the Leprechaun Museum 

The next day we headed out to find something that was open. We spent the day checking out and wandering around Dublin. The first thing we did that day was going to the National Leprechaun Museum which is a tour led museum where a guide takes you around to different furnished and decorated rooms and tells you Irish myths, legends, and tales. We heard stories about leprechauns, fairies, and giants. It was really an interesting concept and the story teller was really engaging, but the stories could have been more diverse. I had already heard some of them and I have little experience in Irish folklore. I liked the rooms, it made the stories more immersive and fun. After that we decided to get on an hop-on hop-off bus tour with the goal of getting to the Kilmainham Gaol which is an old jail. By the time we got there all the tickets had been sold out for the day, so we continued on the bus. The bus tour gave us some really interesting information, especially related to Guinness which takes up 60 acres of land, if I remember correctly, in Dublin. It seemed to go on and on. We got off the tour and wandered into Trinity College. It was pretty, but I like Oxford better. We also got souvenirs and went to a cafe which had really good looking brownies, but they were sadly dry and over priced. That night we planned on going on a ghost tour, so we got tickets to 'The Gravedigger Ghost Tour' which is a bus ghost tour. It takes you to different locations around Dublin and gives you scary stories, ghost or true, about what happened there. The guides were really good and were done up in full makeup to look like ghosts. The one thing I would have to say is that one of them, who was pretending to be a plague victim, coughed on us too much and it was kind of gross. The stories were really good and interesting. The last story ended at a pub which backs onto a graveyard. They told us that when there grave robbers used to work there they would put their shovels through a slit in the pub's wall with money on it and would pull their shovel back out and a pint of beer would be on top. Both Kaleen and I enjoyed the tour, especially the stories.

Kaleen taking a picture the right way!

Guinness factory, we actually went inside

Us on the ghost tour bus!

The next day was Easter Sunday, so we found Kaleen a Catholic service to attend. As she did that I wandered around trying to find an open coffee shop or something. Instead I found a ceremony commemorating the Easter Rising which took place 99 years before, so next year will be the centennial. The Easter Rising is when the Irish people rose up against the English on Easter Sunday and stormed the postoffice before heading over to the castle and taking that. This was one event that began the revolution towards Irish independence. The ceremony was taking place outside the postoffice. The military was there along with some important men. At one point a man pulled up in a fancy car and got out and greeted the military leaders. I assume this man was the president, but I can't be sure. A lot of what was happening was in Irish and I was farther away, so it was hard to see. I only stayed for just over an hour and went back to meet Kaleen. We decided to head to a close by seaside town. Our first destination was going to be Howth, but we had just missed the train by a minute and the next one wasn't for an hour, so we decided to go to the seaside town of Dun Laoghaire instead. Dun Laoghaire is bigger then Howth, from what I could tell. The guide book I got describes Dun Laoghaire as "a vibrant exciting place; a melange of the old and new nestled beneath the Dublin and Wicklow Mountains." There's more, but it's a lot to type! When we got there we decided to walk down the East Pier to the lighthouse at the end. We could see Dublin from the pier and there was also an island that had fog around it making it look like Avalon, the island from King Arthur! The pier is 1.6km each way. It was quite a windy walk.  When we walked back we got some ice cream from a place recommended to us by the guide book called Teddy's. The ice cream tasted like cream! After the pier we decided to wander into town, but Dun Laoghaire had less open then Dublin, so after a while we caught the train back into Dublin where we wandered around some more and then got ready to head to England the next day.

Lighthouse at the end of the East Pier

We didn't have to catch the ferry on the 6th until 2:30pm, so we decided to head out for a stroll. Where there had been a ceremony the day before there was now a festival on celebrating the year 1915, the year before the Easter Rising. There was music, people dressed up, rides, horses, fancy cars and more! It was fun to wander around and get the atmosphere of everyone being so jovial and celebrating. The music was really cool! There were children singing Irish folk songs that were published in 1912 and a band planning ragtime music. It was exciting to wander around there and see people out after not seeing many people the previous days, but sadly we had to collect our stuff and go get on the ferry. The ferry ride was shorter then I thought it would be, taking only 3 hours this time. However, it was still late by the time we got there and the trains were running on a Sunday schedule, so I quickly booked us a hotel in Birmingham, an hour train ride from Oxford, because that was as far as we could make it that night. Our trip to Birmingham was pretty exciting. We saw the Welsh town with the world's longest name! I'll post a picture because I don't think I'll be able to spell it! Also, we passed this amazing looking castle which we were both tempted to get off the train to see, but we didn't have time. We had to transfer trains at one point. It was close to 8pm by this point. We had just gotten off the train and we assumed just missed one connection and the next was in 45 minutes; however, when we checked the train time tables we saw that the train we were supposed to get onto was delayed 2 minutes so we ran up and over the platforms via a bridge and jumped onto the train, just making it and getting to Birmingham 45 minutes earlier then expected! It was such a thrill and for the rest of the trip Kaleen and I were comparing rest of our train catching to that one. That night we watched Avatar and then went to sleep. The next day we headed off to Oxford!

Place with a really long name!

Trip with the Fam Jam: Aberdeen, Glasgow, and Home (aka Oxford)

The last part of our trip was a quite hop over to Aberdeen farther north before returning back to Glasgow and Barry and Mom returning home.

As soon as we arrived in Aberdeen you got the feeling it was quite a different town. Much more new and granite then everywhere else. It made me think more of the cities back home in Canada then any place I had been before or where I have been since. The whole focus on oil didn't help that factor. It was quite a trial to get to our hotel because we had rented a small apartment, but the location we had been given was wrong, so we ended up wandering around for almost an hour before finding it. That pretty much took up the whole day. The next day was for exploring.

 The following day I had again convinced Barry and Mom to let me drag them to another castle. I'm actually surprised they said yes. Maybe it was my good choice of Craigmillar Castle that gave them faith in me. I'll never be sure, but this one was much farther away. First we had to take a train 15 minutes to this seaside town outside of Aberdeen called Stonehaven.  It was very picturesque and what I pictured a seaside town to be. Smaller houses, boats, a beach, in an inlet, the sea, and more! Once we took the train to Stonehaven we still weren't close. We then had to walk an hour not just on flat paved surfaces, but up hills, next to cliffs and on dirt walking paths. It was so much fun! I felt like an explorer! I think after a while Barry and Mom started regretting agreeing, but they never said anything to me, so I can pretend they enjoyed it as much as I did! When I saw the castle, Dunnottar Castle, it was breath taking! Dunnottar Castle is on this little piece of land that jets out into the sea and gives the impression that it is rising from it! At least that's how I felt! There were buildings to explore in this castle, but it was more straight forward then Craigmillar. I really liked this castle and I would have to say it is one of my favourites. Maybe at some later date I'll have to rank all the castles I've seen. It's a thought. We'll see if it happens! Anyway, I really liked this castle because it is so different from the others I have seen, it being right next to the water and on a island which is above the water. I enjoyed exploring this one a lot! It was also such a nice day for the walk and it definitely was my favourite day of the trip! If you want to learn about this castle here is a link: Dunnottar Castle

After the castle we headed back to Aberdeen where we went and saw the Aberdeen Maritime Museum which was actually interesting! It went through the development of Aberdeen from not a very important coastal town to its role in fishing and then oil. Parts of it looked newly done and it was quite engaging and interesting. There wasn't too much information thrown at you. Some of the oil things went over my head, but it mostly had to do with the rigs being in the water and being a prairie girl water and anything to do with it is an unknown concept to me. It was a good museum. After that we went to the Tolbooth Museum which is one of Aberdeen's oldest buildings and used to be the jail. It was interesting to go up the small winding stairs in the building to the small dark damp cells which were above ground. They had some interesting stories in there about men escaping because they hid in trunks or got the guards drunk. It had a different atmosphere from the other museums we had gone to and you got a feel for what it would have been like to be jailed their.

The next day we went back to Glasgow and visited the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum again because Barry and Mom didn't really remember it because they were so tired and jet lagged. The following day I had to get on a train and head back to Oxford because there was potential for a meeting the following day and I wanted to make sure that I was back just incase. Barry and Mom explored Glasgow for the rest of the day. That night, along with the night before, for supper we went to the Grumpy Goat and it was still good! I won't describe the train journey back to Oxford because it was such a pain. So many trains were canceled or delayed. All that matters is that I made it back in the end!

I had such a good time with my family in Scotland. This being our last trip together as a family it only felt right that this is the biggest trip we have ever been on together and I have to say it was worth every moment. Yes, we sometimes got frustrated with each other, but I wouldn't trade that time with them for anything in the world and it'll be something that I treasure and remember for as long as I have my memory!