Catherine hit one million steps on her fitbit. Impressive, since she's had it less than two months!
We got to talk to her through Skype today, which was great, but it also means fewer (or in today's case, no) pictures.
Oh well. Her hostel here is much nicer than the London hostel. Comfy mattress, and a great location, in the middle of town just outside of a castle. She says Wales is full of sheep and castles--and daleks, since Dr. Who does a lot of filming here. As she skyped, we walked with her toward Cardiff bay, and saw a little of the international food adn drink festival fair going on. She had a Cornish pasty. She also found "Pound land" the equivalent to our Dollar Stores.
July 12, 2015 Wales
Lots of messages this morning, but none to do with sightseeing. Catherine has decided that enough is enough and that she's tired and ready to come home. The end date for this trip has always been loose, for just that reason. Travel is wonderful, but no one can go on forever. And she's been going full blast for a long time. She's been changing tickets and plans to come home on July 29. She'll be going to Ireland, Scotland, Disneyland Paris and then home. I think it's a wise choice. She's got to have some time to recover before school starts.
Meanwhile, the only other thing I know about today is that she had a scotch egg. She said it was "decidedly okay." I say, "no wonder she wants to come home."
Other events of the day. She went to church and found her friend, India, who was with her on the study abroad. Then went to the national museum and the food festival.
July 13, 2015 Wales, Dr. Who
"I've flown the Tardis, survived Daleks and weeping angels and saved the universe. It's been a very productive morning."
Making oods.
Three Tardi and a big red button.
Original Dr. Who Sheet music.
First Dr. Who consol
A Cyberman
Tom Bakers Tardis
She also had an English breakfast, saw Mermaid quay, took a nap, had a pub dinner, wandered the mall and had nutella hot chocolate.
July 14, 2015 Cardiff
Low key traveling day today. Catherine has seen all there is to see in Cardiff. Sounds like a charming town, just not sight-seeing heavy. She found this "beautiful" suit for Dave.
Cardiff Castle
Then she took some time off to see Jurassic World. I assume that's where she found this horrible sounding candy, "It's like banana runts got turned into marshmellows and then they added sugar."
July 15,2015 London to Ireland
Next was a good pancake breakfast and a visit to St. Patricks Cathedral. I asked if St. Patrick was everywhere? Catherine said surprisingly, not really. She did go into St. Patricks, but only saw the outside of Christ's church, as it was expensive to go inside.
She went to a library put together by a famous American collector and then went to the must see Leprechan Museum. Her verdict, was that it was cute, but not really worth 10 euros. However, it's not really possible to go to Ireland and NOT go to the leprechan museum.
Dublin has a sort of a China town kind of an area. So she treated herself to an accupressure massage. The massuse told her that her left side was so tight that she really needed accupuncture. This is why I trust my girl---accupressure, yes. Accupuncture from a stranger in a random place? No.
Every town has a bridge.
Dublin closes down early. Catherine thinks it's because all the tourists are expected to go pub crawling and all the locals go home. Everything is shut down by 7:00 and the mall closes around 8. She skyped us while at the mall and we had lots of fun talking with her and looking at some of the stuff. So, she just goes back to her hostel and reads and rests (a very good idea). This hostel is quite nice. Centrally located, and although her bed wasn't ready for her when she arrived at 6 a.m., they let her leave her stuff, and told her to help herself to breakfast and use all the facilities. There are 16 people in the room, with bunks stacked 3 deep. She's on the top this time, but whenever she or anyone else moves, the whole bed shakes.
She sent us this picture of her first time ever Mars bar. How has she never had a Mars bar? I have failed her.
July 16, 2015 Dublin
"Never the bed and early to rise, makes for a day that starts too early for anything to be open."
I knew Ireland had sheep, but I had something a little different in mind.
Next she saw the Book of Kells (lovely illuminated manuscript of the four gospels plus commentary text), believed to have been created around 800 A.D.
And she saw trinity college--with this library to die for. She says if the regular, work-a-day library was this impressive she'd transfer in a heartbeat. Me too.
This is the famed "Long Room"
Next up the national gallery.
This gallery has a wonderful program. After you visit and are feeling inspired, they let you check out art kits with paper and pencils and pastels and notebooks so can can draw or write and then take your creation home.
Last was dinner at the Hard Rock. I hope she finally got her brownie sunday.
At last to a well earned rest.
July 17, 2015 Ireland
Some fun history about the famous Blarney Stone.
Kissing Ireland’s Blarney Stone, a tradition that’s been around for several centuries, is said to give a person the gift of eloquence and persuasiveness. The iconic stone is set in a wall of Blarney Castle, constructed in 1446 by Dermot McCarthy, king of Munster, on the site of a demolished 13th century castle. Various legends surround the Blarney Stone’s origins. One story holds it was acquired during the Crusades and brought to Ireland, while another tale claims it was made from the same material used at Stonehenge. An additional account links it to the Stone of Scone (also called the Stone of Destiny), which was used for hundreds of years in the coronation of Scottish and English monarchs, while yet another legend contends it was a gift from Robert the Bruce, king of Scots, to Cormac McCarthy, king of Munster, for sending men to help Bruce defeat the English at the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314. However, in 2014, geologists from the University of Glasgow shed some light on the Blarney Stone’s heritage when they concluded that the famous rock isn’t from Scotland but instead is made of 330-million-year-old limestone local to the south of Ireland.
The word “blarney,” meaning skillful flattery or nonsense, supposedly came into use following an incident involving the head of the McCarthy family and Queen Elizabeth I, who ruled England and Ireland from 1558 to 1603. The queen sent the earl of Leicester to seize Blarney Castle but the talkative McCarthy managed to keep stalling him. The queen grew exasperated by the earl’s reports about the lack of progress in the matter and uttered something to the effect that the reports were all “Blarney.”
Today, people travel from around the globe to give the Blarney Stone a peck (which must be done by leaning backward while holding onto two railings). Winston Churchill is among the notable figures who’ve kissed the stone, doing so in 1912 when he was First Lord of the Admiralty. Who’s to say that smooch didn’t bestow a little eloquence on Churchill, who went on to become British prime minister in 1940 and earn a reputation as a masterful orator?
The word “blarney,” meaning skillful flattery or nonsense, supposedly came into use following an incident involving the head of the McCarthy family and Queen Elizabeth I, who ruled England and Ireland from 1558 to 1603. The queen sent the earl of Leicester to seize Blarney Castle but the talkative McCarthy managed to keep stalling him. The queen grew exasperated by the earl’s reports about the lack of progress in the matter and uttered something to the effect that the reports were all “Blarney.”
Today, people travel from around the globe to give the Blarney Stone a peck (which must be done by leaning backward while holding onto two railings). Winston Churchill is among the notable figures who’ve kissed the stone, doing so in 1912 when he was First Lord of the Admiralty. Who’s to say that smooch didn’t bestow a little eloquence on Churchill, who went on to become British prime minister in 1940 and earn a reputation as a masterful orator?
Best here was Dave's response to this photo:
"Whose hands are those?!! I will NOT have you going around kissing Irish rock stars with strange men's hands on your person!
She said the castle was wonderful. Most interesting to me is the Poison Garden. I wish my mother could have seen that! Somebody has to have written a mystery set here.
Catherine's tour also went to Cobh, the last place the Titanic ever docked.
There were also random tree cozies.
July 18, Dublin
Next was a good pancake breakfast and a visit to St. Patricks Cathedral. I asked if St. Patrick was everywhere? Catherine said surprisingly, not really. She did go into St. Patricks, but only saw the outside of Christ's church, as it was expensive to go inside.
She went to a library put together by a famous American collector and then went to the must see Leprechan Museum. Her verdict, was that it was cute, but not really worth 10 euros. However, it's not really possible to go to Ireland and NOT go to the leprechan museum.
Dublin has a sort of a China town kind of an area. So she treated herself to an accupressure massage. The massuse told her that her left side was so tight that she really needed accupuncture. This is why I trust my girl---accupressure, yes. Accupuncture from a stranger in a random place? No.
Every town has a bridge.
Dublin closes down early. Catherine thinks it's because all the tourists are expected to go pub crawling and all the locals go home. Everything is shut down by 7:00 and the mall closes around 8. She skyped us while at the mall and we had lots of fun talking with her and looking at some of the stuff. So, she just goes back to her hostel and reads and rests (a very good idea). This hostel is quite nice. Centrally located, and although her bed wasn't ready for her when she arrived at 6 a.m., they let her leave her stuff, and told her to help herself to breakfast and use all the facilities. There are 16 people in the room, with bunks stacked 3 deep. She's on the top this time, but whenever she or anyone else moves, the whole bed shakes.
She sent us this picture of her first time ever Mars bar. How has she never had a Mars bar? I have failed her.
July 19, 2015 Dublin
I guess church and food go together. After evensong, she treated herself to a special hot chocolate. She figured it must be really special because they were taking so long. Ooops. They had forgotten her. But they gave her a chocolate heart to make up for the wait.
Next she took advantage of Animal body worlds that was in town. Note: Reindeer fetuses look like fully grown chihuahuas.
Tomorrow she has to leave at 5:10 a.m. for Scotland. So fortified with chocolate, she tackled the packing. She expects dinner will be pizza and is hoping for an early night.
July 20, 2015 Scotland
Okay, I'm not even going to try to make sense of this day. She had to leave at 5:00 a.m. to get to Scotland, so maybe she's tired, or maybe the haggis was bad, but today's texts have a sort of psychedelic quality to them. Here we go....
Got upgraded to a private room! Oops, nope. Hostel guy messed up. So she found a tsum tsum purse.
Did well at the ATM--English option broken, but she fine in German. Then found a book on how to knit your own Andy Murray, and offered to get us some tinned Haggis.
She sent this picture. Tribbles? Tribbles in a brewery? Then we get this text.
"You know the candy jelly babies? I got you guys some jelly-atrics." Terrific. Thanks love.
Her room still smells weird. She ate some haggis and it was ok.
She bought a very pretty necklace.
I asked for a summary of her day. I got "Waiting and Walking."
Now she's sharing a room with three very loud spanish speakers. I only hope that she gets some sleep and that tomorrow will make more sense.
July 21, 2015 Scotland
I love my girl. I didn't actually complain about the lack of details in the daily summaries that she sends me..I merely pointed out that she should not major in English, and that if she had written Harry Potter the whole series would have only been 1 paragraph long. I got the following in response.
Okay, I'm not even going to try to make sense of this day. She had to leave at 5:00 a.m. to get to Scotland, so maybe she's tired, or maybe the haggis was bad, but today's texts have a sort of psychedelic quality to them. Here we go....
Got upgraded to a private room! Oops, nope. Hostel guy messed up. So she found a tsum tsum purse.
Did well at the ATM--English option broken, but she fine in German. Then found a book on how to knit your own Andy Murray, and offered to get us some tinned Haggis.
She sent this picture. Tribbles? Tribbles in a brewery? Then we get this text.
"You know the candy jelly babies? I got you guys some jelly-atrics." Terrific. Thanks love.
Her room still smells weird. She ate some haggis and it was ok.
She bought a very pretty necklace.
I asked for a summary of her day. I got "Waiting and Walking."
Now she's sharing a room with three very loud spanish speakers. I only hope that she gets some sleep and that tomorrow will make more sense.
July 21, 2015 Scotland
I love my girl. I didn't actually complain about the lack of details in the daily summaries that she sends me..I merely pointed out that she should not major in English, and that if she had written Harry Potter the whole series would have only been 1 paragraph long. I got the following in response.
Today I started with a .4 mile walk to the hop on hop off bus station by the Glasgow cathedral.
I woke up too late for breakfast, but had a pack of 4 belvita breakfast biscuits (flavor oat) to munch along the way.
It started to drizzle so I opened my useless umbrealls which proceeded to turn inside out at the slightest hint of a breeze. I waited for a 4.672 minutes for the bus to arrive. I got on and was led through a delightful tour of Glasgow before disembarking at the riverside museum of transportation.
There I had the pleasure of viewing a multitude of trains, trolleys, bicycles, boats and other things throughout time. I also explored the "tall ship" an actual ship that now serves as a museum. The rooms were remarkably preserved with informative information plaques at every turn. There were also little stuffed rats throughout. The deck was kept meticulously clean by providing the children an opportunity to swab the deck.
I enjoyed a sausage bap and hot chocolate at the cafe before heading to my next destination. Passing the "armadillo" or cultural centre I arrived at the Kelvingrove museum. There I was a witness to a mangerie of taxidermy, a bounty of plein air, and an organ recital.
At the cafe I enjoyed afternoon tea--a delightful affair with citrus tea, ham, salmon and cheese sandwiches, a scone with clotted creamand jam, a cream tart, cream puff and blueberry shortbread square.
Then I walked to the artistic shop of snappy snaps to develop the film I so lovingly exposed. on my earlier ventures. Whilst I waited, I visited the reputable establishment of higher learning that is Glasgow university.
I saw the non-denominational chapel and the famous cloisters that inspired the design of hogwarts in the films.
I also viewed the huntairan museum and saw the bones of dire wolves, ancient roman runes and the deformed body parts of humans long passed.
After receiving my film, I ventured to find Voltaire and Rousseau books. A small shop down an alley that was full of tomes in all shapes and sizes stacked high on the walls and all over the floor leaving only narrow walkways for patrons.
I then departed for the bus station to take me to the city centre. There I found a cafe of Hard Rock,
and had a beautiful glass filled to the brim with brownies, hot fudge and frozen cream. I ended my day with a stroll along the streets back to my inn.
July 22, 2015 Scotland
I think Catherine must be dead tired. She said the best thing about the day was 5 guys burgers.
But she took a bus tour and saw Mackintosh house, which seems to be part of the Hunterian art gallery, which in turn is part of the university? I'm getting a little tired myself. The house seems to be a modern architechtral wonder, full of natural light.
(I hope she got some good pictures, because it's impossible to pull anything off of the internet. It must all be copyrighted.)
Then she spent the remainder of the evening waiting forever at the bus station because everything else was closed.
Not sure when she got a hold of this rootbeer, but she says she didn't realize how much she missed it until she had some. Funny how the body works, we're not big rootbeer drinkers, but I felt the same way about peanut butter when we lived in Japan.
Also not sure when she saw the bagpipers, but hey, it's Scotland.
I woke up too late for breakfast, but had a pack of 4 belvita breakfast biscuits (flavor oat) to munch along the way.
It started to drizzle so I opened my useless umbrealls which proceeded to turn inside out at the slightest hint of a breeze. I waited for a 4.672 minutes for the bus to arrive. I got on and was led through a delightful tour of Glasgow before disembarking at the riverside museum of transportation.
There I had the pleasure of viewing a multitude of trains, trolleys, bicycles, boats and other things throughout time. I also explored the "tall ship" an actual ship that now serves as a museum. The rooms were remarkably preserved with informative information plaques at every turn. There were also little stuffed rats throughout. The deck was kept meticulously clean by providing the children an opportunity to swab the deck.
I enjoyed a sausage bap and hot chocolate at the cafe before heading to my next destination. Passing the "armadillo" or cultural centre I arrived at the Kelvingrove museum. There I was a witness to a mangerie of taxidermy, a bounty of plein air, and an organ recital.
At the cafe I enjoyed afternoon tea--a delightful affair with citrus tea, ham, salmon and cheese sandwiches, a scone with clotted creamand jam, a cream tart, cream puff and blueberry shortbread square.
Then I walked to the artistic shop of snappy snaps to develop the film I so lovingly exposed. on my earlier ventures. Whilst I waited, I visited the reputable establishment of higher learning that is Glasgow university.
I saw the non-denominational chapel and the famous cloisters that inspired the design of hogwarts in the films.
I also viewed the huntairan museum and saw the bones of dire wolves, ancient roman runes and the deformed body parts of humans long passed.
After receiving my film, I ventured to find Voltaire and Rousseau books. A small shop down an alley that was full of tomes in all shapes and sizes stacked high on the walls and all over the floor leaving only narrow walkways for patrons.
I then departed for the bus station to take me to the city centre. There I found a cafe of Hard Rock,
and had a beautiful glass filled to the brim with brownies, hot fudge and frozen cream. I ended my day with a stroll along the streets back to my inn.
July 22, 2015 Scotland
I think Catherine must be dead tired. She said the best thing about the day was 5 guys burgers.
But she took a bus tour and saw Mackintosh house, which seems to be part of the Hunterian art gallery, which in turn is part of the university? I'm getting a little tired myself. The house seems to be a modern architechtral wonder, full of natural light.
(I hope she got some good pictures, because it's impossible to pull anything off of the internet. It must all be copyrighted.)
Then she spent the remainder of the evening waiting forever at the bus station because everything else was closed.
Not sure when she got a hold of this rootbeer, but she says she didn't realize how much she missed it until she had some. Funny how the body works, we're not big rootbeer drinkers, but I felt the same way about peanut butter when we lived in Japan.
Also not sure when she saw the bagpipers, but hey, it's Scotland.
