Going Home

Today we left from Dublin.

Peter picked us up at the hotel at about 7 am. He also brought us breakfast which was super nice of him. We then went through customs. It was longer because we did all the American ones there, so in the airport at home we could just leave.

Most of the flight I slept, literally haha. Anyway after that we got into our car and drove home from Chicago. We stopped on the way home at Cheesecake Factory which was amazing!

Once we got home we talked to my dad for a bit, then I left for my softball game. Our team lost by one It was a good game, but I couldn’t play so it wasn’t as much fun.

I’m really sad we had to leave but it is what it is. I’m glad we got to go. It was so much fun, well have to save our money and go on another trip! It would be fun to got to Spain 🙂

Last day :(

Today was our last day in Dublin and in Europe. I had a REALLY fun time.

Anyway, today we didn’t do as much, but we still did a lot. We first had breakfast then we went to the National Leprechaun Museum. I enjoyed that so much. Haha, it was really funny and really cool. We went into an oversized room so it felt like we were tiny, then we went in other rooms and heard old folk stories. We also heard facts. There was a guy on our tour who was so funny. He looked like a leprechaun, a really tall leprechaun. After enjoying that, we went to Bray.

Bray is a city on the coast, and they were having an airshow on the beach. So we went. The train was super crowded!!!!!! Once we were off the sweaty train, we went to watch the show for a bit, and then we got back on the train so we could get to our tour in the city.

The tour we took was called Viking Splash. It was kinda cool. It was on this bus/ boat thing called Ducw (duck) that’s what he called it. We had these Viking helmet things and you could wear them if u wanted. I didn’t. Haha anywho we would yell at certain times on the road. It was really funny. At the beginning the tour guide asked where we were from and I said Wisconsin. And then he skipped over the guy sitting next to me. He said “Well, I guess I’m from Wisconsin now. Haha” I just laughed. So we went on the tour on land, then we went into the Grand Canal. It was really cool. One interesting thing was when we passed St. Patrick’s and the guide told us that although St. Patrick was the patron saint of Ireland, he wasn’t actually a saint, he wasn’t really named Patrick, and he wasn’t from Ireland.

We then went to eat. We went to an Irish pub. It was really good. We had to leave before 9 pm. though because in Ireland, kids under 18 can’t be in pubs, even the restaurant part, after 9. We were done in time though. We then got on the bus and skyped my dad for a bit. We then went up to our hotel room and relaxed. We have to leave kinda early tomorrow so we can get to the airport. I can’t wait to get home, but then again I don’t wanna leave!!

Spending time with Irish friends

Today we went to the Irish country side with my mom’s friend Peter and his family. It was really fun. Their kids were very energetic and kept us going most of the day.

We started off with a Full Irish Breakfast. Once we were done, we went outside and met Peter. He took us out to NewGrange and Knowth. When we got there we waited a bit for Peter’s family. When they got there we went to get on the bus to take us out to Knowth. It was about 5 minutes so it wasn’t bad. When we got there we went on the tour. It was interesting. It was the mounds the ancient people built.

When we were done, we went to the top of one. When we got up there Peter’s son, Daniel, was hitting stones together like they would do back then. It was really cute. Haha anyway after that we went to Newgrange. That was a big burial mound. On the way there we saw some cows that got out, and they were all on the road. Like tons of them. After that, when we got there, it was cool when we went in because it was one of the oldest roof structures. The tour guide also told us about how on the summer solstice the light will shine just right, and will go into the mound and give them light for very little time. It was really cool actually.

When we got back,we went to lunch. It was good. I got a hamburger. It tasted more like meatloaf though. It wasn’t bad. After sitting/ eating for about 1 1/2 hours, we left and went to Trim Castle.

Trim Castle was really cool. It also is the oldest castle in Ireland. So before the tour started we got ice cream. We all got ice cream except for Peter’s wife, Susannah. Peter, my mom, my brother, and I all got 99 ice cream. It is soft served ice cream with a chocolate stick. It was really good. None of us knew why it was called 99 ice cream though. Then Thady and Daniel (his sons) got gummy bear ice cream. It was ice cream with gummy bears in the stick thing. (It was like a push up pop). Anywho before we went on the tour. We noticed that there was a wedding going on which was cool.

I really liked the castle. It was super interesting and really pretty. I think it was a really cool tour, except for the stairs. The stairs were the swirly kind. Like really swirly. We walked in how many circles. Haha. After we went out, Peter took us to the hotel, and we thanked him.

Then after relaxing for a bit, we went to Sandymount Beach. It was on the Atlantic Ocean. It was the first time we had been to the ocean so we went in, but we didn’t swim, we’re doing that tomorrow. I really liked that.

Today was a fun day. Too bad we only have one more day left on Europe 😦 it was fun though. 🙂

Fun day

Today was our first full day in Dublin. It was fun. I personally liked it a lot more because it wasn’t as crowded, which was nice. So when I woke up, my brother and mom were already up. So I got dressed and we went to eat a full Irish breakfast. The breakfast was SO GOOD. Then we went to get on our tour bus. It was a hop on – hop off tour, so we could hop off anywhere. We first got off at Trinity College. It is the oldest university in Ireland. We didn’t get the tour, we just walked around.

Then we got on again. We went to Grafton Street and went shopping. We went to this place called Carroll’s it was a fun store. We got a few things. We found some super funny shirts, we were tempted to get them but we didn’t. I think that was a cool store.

Then after looking around a bit my mom found a leprechaun… She had us take a picture with him. Haha.

After that we got back on the bus. We then went to the National Museum and National Gallery. They we’re both pretty cool. It was neat because in the museum was from the beginning of Ireland time. I didn’t know Vikings settled in Ireland!

Once we were done with those things, we went to the Dublin Castle and Christ Church Cathedral. We didn’t go in either of them we just walked around and looked. After that we went to St. Patrick’s Cathedral. It was gorgeous. I’m not joking. It was so pretty. We walked around and looked. When we were done with that, we got back on the bus.

We then went to something my mom wanted to go to. The Guinness Storehouse. It was actually really cool to see. At the end my mom got a free pint of their beer and we got free soda 😀 we then went to Kilmainham Gaol.

The Kilmainham Gaol is an old jail. It may not sound interesting, but it was. They talked about what the did and all the different rooms, so it was about an hour. It was worth it. It was really cool. I learned a lot about Irish history. We then went to get dinner. we picked up some water and we headed to the hotel. Tomorrow we are going to Newgrange with my Mom’s friend Peter. I’m Hoping it will interesting.

Paris

Today we juts walked around Paris because it was our last day there for a while.

When we got up, it was later than we planned, but oh well, we were up really late last night. When we first got up we went to the Louvre. We got some breakfast first. It was really good. We had just normal pastries, they taste better in France :). After we ate and had been asked a dozen times to buy mini Eiffel Towers, we went to go into the Louvre. We tried going in the secret way. It was closed. So we went to another entrance, but not the main one. We waited about 45 minutes, compared to 2-3 hours for the main entrance.

Once we got in we saw the Egyptian display. I guess it was neat but I’m not a big fan of history. One thing that I did like was pieces of the insides of the Pyramids. Then we went through the medieval rooms, we didn’t really look but then again we did. After at we walked around and looked at all the paintings and sculptures. My mom wanted to see the Winged Victory, so we did. To look at it or take picture it took a hit because so many people wanted to see it. We got a picture though. Then we went through the renaissance rooms to look for the Mona Lisa. It took a bit but we found it. It was hard to get a picture because almost everyone was trying to get to the front. When I saw it I noticed that it was much smaller than I thought. After we got a picture, we left to find Napoleon’s apartments. That’s when me and my brother got moody because we couldn’t find it and we were tired. So yeah, my mom wasn’t too happy either. Haha. After looking at them, we went outside to sit and relax. On the way out, we saw the pickpockets we were warned about. They were trying to get people to sign a petition so they could distract you and steal your things. We didn’t fall for it .

After we got out of that we went to find Notre Dame. We went to the wrong one at first but it was still really pretty. It was smaller and right behind the Louvre. When we went in, I took a really cool picture of a candle, then we left. We went to find Notre Dame. We finally found it and we went by it, and I got pictures for fair. We didn’t have time to go in, plus the line was at least around the block. Once I got my pictures we left.

After that we all needed some time to relax. We took a bus to Petit Palais. (Peh-teet pa-lay) We wanted to see if André was right about the having them best ice cream. So we got in free because we were going to the garden café. It was the best ice cream ever!!!! We also went on their wifi. We also just looked at it. It was super pretty. Especially the flooring and ceiling. The floor was mosaic and the ceiling was covered in murals.

After relaxing we went to Napoleon’s Tomb. Part of it was a military museum. This was something my brother REALLY wanted to see. I didn’t really care. So we looked around for a bit in the WW1 and WW2 part. Then we went to the tomb. The tombs were huge and built very fancy. After looking around that for awhile, we left.

Then we went back to the hotel to get our bags. Once we did we left and got on the metro to the airport. It took about an hour. We were really early, but we’d rather be sitting for a few extra hours than stuck in traffic, and miss our plane.

Once we got there we checked in and went through customs. It was a lot easier than in the U.S. we then went to eat. We got McDonalds. It wasn’t the first choice but it was all they had.

Finally we got on our plane. It is green. It was like that because Ireland’s known as the Emerald Isle. But I think it’s because of the leprechauns and shamrocks. 💚🍀

The best tour ever

Today we got to Paris.

When we first got to Paris we had to find where our bike tour was. We found it but it took a bit. Once we got there a tour guide told us about the tour. Then we walked to their office, where we met up with our guide. His name was Andre. He told us again about the tour and safety things. He also talked about how we were going to dominate the road. But that’s later. He then asked my brother to be his co-pilot. He said yes. So he was in the front of the group.

So we biked around Paris and saw some famous landmarks. The ones I can pronounce are the Louvre, Napoleon’s Tomb, and then the place we had lunch, Tuileries gardens, which was very very good. Anywho we just biked around and we stopped at certain places and talked about them. Then we started dominating the road. That’s pretty much where we didn’t let the cars stop us. We gave them a zoolander face. It was so funny. He also said if they yell words out of their window, don’t remember them. Also if they give u a finger give them your index finger and wave a no no no at them. Then we just biked around. After that we went to have lunch. On the way there, we had to dominate the round-about. It was quite funny actually cuz we were yelling for Sparta, well an attempt, and we took up a whole lane. Some of the people’s faces were funny. Also there were two men in cars that were like yelling at each other it wasn’t too pleasant. Anywho we finally got to lunch and it was DELICIOUS. Andre sat by us and it was fun to talk to him. We have some things in common, like soccer, so that’s what we talked about.

After we left there we went down an old freeway that they closed. The path is where my brother wiped out. He and Andre were racing, no one was in front of them, and this little girl decided to walk right in front of my brother. When he noticed, he couldn’t stop so he hit her. Se was fine, just road rash. Same with my brother, but his was worse. Then we were off again and we dominated the road. We were pretty close to their office so we took a victory lap around it and parked the bikes. We then went in and we both got t-shirts. They say dominate on them. Then we got a picture with Andre and then left. That was by far my favorite tour ever.

After our tour was over, we spent some time searching for our hotel. We finally found it and relaxed for a bit. We walked around the area like 10 times haha but we found it. Then after we relaxed and skyped with my dad, we went to see the Eiffel Tower at night. It was so pretty. We then waited in an hour long line to get there but it paid off. It was worth the wait. We went all the way to the top and there was an AMAZING view. Then we went down and got some ice cream. There were so many people selling things at the bottom, like every minute someone would ask you to buy something. It was so annoying. I was sick of it but other than that it was a really fun day. I can’t wait till tomorrow because there are still things to see in Paris, plus we will be in Ireland tomorrow night. 🙂

Last day in London

Today was our last day in London, we are now off to Paris.

Today we went to two museums, a few shops, and St. Paul’s Cathedral. We went to the British Museum, I didn’t like it very much because I don’t like museums. We went to the Victoria and Albert Museum. It was actually really cool. It was more modern and really cool. After the museums, we went shopping a bit. We went to Harrods and looked around. It was ridiculously priced. Like no joke, there were things over $100 million! It was super pretty though. After we left Harrods, we walked around to try to find some food. As we were walking around we saw Lamborghini London. I wanted one so bad!!!!! But they were outrageously priced.

After a bit we found a little Italian restaurant. It was super good!!!!! When we were done eating we went to St Paul’s.

St. Paul’s is a HUGE cathedral but it is very pretty and very old. We could only look at a little bit of it because they were having a service, but we enjoyed what we could. Then we walked around Chinatown to look for some souvenirs. I got a bag that I’m going to use for my backpack. I also got a converse key chain. I love converse shoes so much. We then just got some groceries and headed to the hotel. Today was pretty relaxing. But I can’t wait for tomorrow, we will be in Paris! 🙂

Out to the English Country Side

Today was a long day. We went to Windsor Castle, Bathe, and Stonehenge. It was about. 2 1/2 hour drive, I slept most of the way. Anyway we got picked up from a hotel at 7 then went to the bus station. We were on our way at about 8:30. Like I said, I slept on the way there and once we got to Windsor Castle I wasn’t tired anymore.

When we got there we got our tickets and we walked around. I got a picture of the castle for my aunt because her last name is Castle and she collects castles so we have an idea…. After that we went through Queen Victoria’s things. Such as her weapons (she had SO MANY), her bedroom, the dining room, and all the other rooms. Then we went to go see the changing of the guards. I’m glad I had my iPad along so I could record it.

part one
part two

it was so cool!!! I don’t think I’ve ever seen something as neat ad that. After that was over( it was about a half an hour) we went to lunch. We had a choice since we were on a tour. We all got fish and chips and it wasn’t bad. After that we went to the gift shop to see if anything was there that we wanted, there wasn’t so we got on the bus.

The ride to Bathe was about 2 hours so almost everyone slept. When the tour person woke us up he talked about what Bathe was. It was a part of the Roman Bathes. It actually was really cool. When we got there the tour guide showed us around and then he let us go on our own. We just got ice cream, took pictures, and walked around. We also went to the Abbey Church. It was SO pretty. We could take pictures so we did. I think that is the only church that will let you take pictures.

After we went in Abbey Church we walked around for a bit again and we saw a lot of street performers and my brother saw a pigeon guy, so he wanted to have the pigeons land on him. It was super funny. Then we left after he was done. After walking for a bit, we walked back around that area and a lot of the people who were sitting on the benches when my brother was up by the guy, had gone up to try it out for themselves.

Anywho after we left Bathe we went to Stonehenge. I guess it was cool but it wasn’t my favorite. My brother just took a lot of pictures. Then we left. We didn’t stay as long there because we didn’t need all that time. On the way back I just listened to my music.

When we got back to where we were staying, we went to the grocery store and got some food. When we got back we ate some of it. It was quite good. Then we just sat and did whatever and then found a movie to watch. It’s funny but I don’t know what it’s called. Today was a good day.

Another day in beautiful London

Today we only did one thing. We went to Hampton Court Palace. We only went one place because it was about 2 hours away. When we got there we just looked around. It was Henry VIII’s palace. It was humonguous. But so pretty. It was so fancy I could get used to that. haha Anywho, we walked around for quite some time, and then we got some lunch. It wasn’t the best but we were hungry. Then we went to the gardens which are huge and we went through the maze. We got to the center 2 times before getting to the end. It was funny. We then went to catch the bus but it didn’t come to the station it said it would so we had to catch one but we got it luckily. Then we went on the subway and rode most of the way back to the hotel. We couldn’t finish the route because there was something wrong with the line, so we got onto another train to take us to our hotel. When we got to the right place, the train we had gotten off had electrical problems so everyone was swarming to get another train.

Finally after we got out of the station we checked into our new hotel. It’s different from the other ones because its just in a neighborhood. Is nice though. Me and my brother love the room because there is a bed on the main floor then there is a loft with two twin beds so we all get our own bed which is nice. We thought it was pretty lucky because at the palace there were these bed type cushions that u could lay on and we both wished we had them. When we got to the hotel we both said that getting a wave was actually good luck! I don’t think it will be too bad staying here but you never know.

Later we went to Buckingham Palace. We just walked up as far as we could and tried to take pictures, but our camera got messed up so we had to fix it. Buckingham palace is so pretty. When we got there we saw it was lined with British flags, then we saw many news reporters in tents because Princess Kate is going to have a baby soon and they wanted to be some of the first people to know. I wonder if they will still be there when we go on Tuesday for the changing of the guards. Once we left we went to see Big Ben lit up with all the lights. It was super pretty.

Different words the English use

Mind the gap
Mind your step
Give way
Way out
Chips
Take away
Queue
Queue up
Ahead only
Lift
Toilets
Crisps
Buscuts
No naked lights
Cycles
Cyclist
Buggys
Car park
Holiday