I am going to Gretna Green!

Saturday, May 30th

Gretna Green and Edinburgh, Scotland

Hey all!

We are EXHAUSTED, which seems to be a typical feeling now. 

We did have a lovely night's sleep at the Premier Inn, as they advertised. We wanted to stay there forever. We had a continental breakfast of the same sort of fare we've been having, so I just had bacon, eggs, grilled tomatoes, and yogurt with granola and berries. Yogurt tastes completely different. Runnier and less sugary or sweet. Still good though.

Tiny elevator selfie!

We left right after breakfast for Gretna Green. We got to see the angel Moroni of the Preston temple as we drove up the M61, which was really cool.

Driving up the M6 into the north was gorgeous. Less trees than we'd seen but lots of hills and mountains, and lots of sheep. Scotland is amazingly gorgeous. 

The first of many, many Scottish drive by pictures.

Scotland is my favorite!

Sheep!!! They have accents there, you know.

Too pretty. Ugh.

I couldn't look around fast enough!

Gretna Green was an adorable little stop. The history of the place is that couples have been running away to get married there for hundreds of years because the laws in Scotland were way less strict than in England, basically anyone could perform a wedding, so the blacksmiths on the edge of town usually did, and Gretna is the first town across the border. We saw the Olde Blacksmith Shop where weddings and elopements have been taking place for hundreds of years. Lots of shopping and pictures. No special rings, but we did find husbands. Sort of.

GRETNA! WE ARE SAVED!

Such a cute little place!

Not quite husbands, but it was the best we could do.

We got into Edinburgh around 2:00, and we couldn't check in until after 3:00, so we hit the town. First stop was Edinburgh castle. We found a free tour inside and it was fascinating. So much history and neat facts! The Scottish Crown Jewels were amazing, the buildings were so cool, and despite the crowd, we had a great time. But there were too many Asians! They had a war memorial for all of the Scotsmen who died in the First World War, and that was surprisingly emotional. Then we saw the National War Museum, and that was way cool. Classic uniforms and weaponry, history, etc. Very, very cool.

Oh, that? Just a castle on a hill...

The long, slow migration to the castle...

And looking back towards the city.

What an incredible view from the top! We got so lucky this day.

Love that flag waving so proudly at the top.

After the castle, we went shopping on the royal mile. We went a little crazy there, but we couldn't help it! Getting all of our souvenirs back should be interesting...

The Royal Mile... A challenge in its very name.

We had dinner at the Filling Station, which is not a Scottish place, but that's okay. I had the Mac n Jack.... Macaroni and cheese with bacon and spices (SO GOOD!) and then some ginger beer to drink. So good. I love that.

GOODNESS GRACIOUS GIVE IT TO ME.

Ginger beer in the middle of the street... So what?

We wandered and shopped a bit more, listened to some awesome street musicians, and enjoyed the fact that it was a partly cloudy and slightly warm day in Scotland -- UNHEARD OF! Great day.

Our hotel tonight is a house that was made over, each room is large and family sized. We're sharing a room, and there's a double bed and 3 twins, so lots of space.

Cutest hotel!

The "family" rooms. So many beds!

Tomorrow is driving up to Balmoral Castle, the Queen's residence, and more wandering of Edinburgh! I'm almost done with souvenirs for everyone, which is great because there is almost no room in the inn!

This is an awesome trip and I love it. If I came more often, I wouldn't need to get so many things! 

"You go, and then we'll go, and then we'll all go together!"

Friday May 29th
Dublin, Wales, and Manchester

Today was a bit nutty…
I took it easier at breakfast. Just porridge and Irish bacon. And some toast. And cocoa. But we were so early that it was cold cocoa, so it was like really good Nesquik. It was all still so good! We found the brand of the cocoa, we will be hunting for it.
Traffic in Dublin was nuts. We had to get across town to the port and the GPS on the phone and on the Garmin had no idea where we were. We were almost late. It took forever to find the Dublin Port. But some nice people in a gas station helped us. Go Irish. If we hadn't have had priority passage and boarding, we wouldn't have made it.

Headed onto our lovely little ferry!

Our boat called the Jonathan Swift. He's the author of Gulliver's travels. We paid extra for Club Class and it was so worth it. It was like being on an airplane, only roomier. We thought it felt like the Titanic, but without all of the iceberg stuff.

Club Class. Very classy, no? We did think about all of those little people in steerage...

We were up on Deck 5. I went out onto the deck and it was amazing. Chilly air, very fresh, and I could feel the boat turning. Perfect day for being on the water. The only way I can describe it was that it was very bracing. So invigorating.

I LOVED being on the deck of that ferry.

The last views of Dublin.

The views were stunning, I couldn't believe it.

We had to use a code to get back into our seating area. That’s how special we were. And the food and drinks in Club Class were free. We may have had some diet coke before 9:00.
Once the boat picked up speed once we were out of the harbor a ways, it was SO HARD to get balance. I actually felt a little sick from it. Mom would not like it at all. We went shopping in the gift shop and the bottles of booze kept shaking and we were falling into things and it was hysterical. We laughed our heads off. Because this boat is a faster ferry, you pay the price and it's a rougher crossing. So weird. But we got to park the car underneath the boat, so that was cool.
Once in Wales, we started driving around and headed for Manchester in England. Driving on the A55 was SO GORGEOUS. And MUCH nicer than the scary streets of Dublin. We stopped for a walk and bathroom break in Old Colwyn in Wales, and it was gorgeous. Wales is one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen. They also have the strangest language. I have no idea how to say anything, and all of their traffic signs had things in English and Welsh, so we could see what it was, but WHAT DID IT SAY? It was nuts. 

Driving off of the ferry into Wales!

Wales was STUNNING. Next time, I'm staying longer there.

Such a gorgeous coastline!

Colony Bay beach! So awesome.

We got to Lyme Park (aka PEMBERLEY) around 2:30. It was amazing. Absolutely amazing. Perfectly restored, so much history, so many fun things! We literally saw the whole house. Then we walked the grounds for ages, just loving it, even though it was cold.  We even saw some deer grazing by the rhododendron gardens. I tried to find Mr. Darcy, but he seemed to not be at home. More’s the pity. But we took tons of pictures and had lots of fun. We may have forgotten to eat lunch, so we got some fudge to make up for it.

IT'S PEMBERLEY!!!!

Where is Darcy?!?!?

When the house and gardens closed at 5:00, we walked up to the hunting lodge up on a ridge and the wind was CRAZY and the views were amazing. I couldn't breathe, and yet I'd never been able to breathe so freely. I may have cried a little. I took some panoramic shots, but there is no way to capture what I saw. So beautiful.

Such gorgeous countryside, the walk up to the hunting lodge was so pretty!

It was a bit of a hike, though. And the wind was NUTS.

The view from the top. I can't even describe it.

We drove into Manchester after that and went to our hotel, which promises, from the front desk, a wonderful night’s sleep. We could all use that, so we will see about that. We walked across the street to the mall, and it was fantastic. Trafford Centre is the coolest mall EVER. So huge, so many fun stores, and again it was like Titanic. Literally, the fine dining area of Titanic was the food court. And there were SO MANY RESTAURANTS.

The Titanic dining court... I mean, seriously...

But we knew what we were doing. Five Guys. Or as we called it, Five British Guys. It was the best thing we have done all trip food-wise. Five Guys was so fast, way faster then the States. The food tasted just as good, maybe even moreso because we wanted it so badly. They had beer available, of course, and MILKSHAKES. Yes, you read that right. Milkshakes. How many times have we said Five Guys needed milkshakes and HERE THEY WERE! We almost died. They said we could add bacon to the shakes if we wanted, but we opted not to. All mix-ins were free, though. And they are GOOD shakes. So amazing.

We came, we saw, we conquered...and it was SO GOOD.

Not quite British food, but THAT MILKSHAKE. No regrets.

We did some shopping at the mall briefly, and Steph and I ended the day watching the Pemberley scenes from Pride and Prejudice to bring it full circle. We took a picture of our picture in "the spot" and held it up to the movie, and we were so right. We're such dorks.
LOTS of roundabouts today. We came up with a theme for it, since they are nuts here. We said “You go and then we’ll go and then we’ll all go together!” It worked for roundabouts, exits, traffic in general….life…. It’s a good motto!
We barely made 8 miles today, which is light compared to the rest of our trip so far! Nice to keep it easy… Blegh. My feet hurt! But my heart is happy, so I’ll take it.
Tomorrow we head up to Scotland. Gretna Green is first, lots of fun history there that I’ll talk about tomorrow, then up to Edinburgh! WOOHOO!

If the sheep decide to form an uprising, we're in trouble

Thursday, May 28th
County Wicklow, Ireland

Today was nuts! We had a traditional Irish breakfast buffet for breakfast here at the hotel… And it was MASSIVE. SO MUCH FOOD. We died, it was so awesome. And the hot chocolate was the best I have ever had in my entire life. We are here at the Ashling for one more night, so we are jazzed to have that again. We’ll see what else I can get tomorrow, I’m pretty sure I had almost everything today…

The most amazing hot chocolate to ever pass these lips. Hunting for it to keep on hand.

Then we got picked up by a bus to take us down to O’Connell street for our bus tour. We got on the bus for County Wicklow and the Wicklow Gap tour and that started a whole lot of fun. 

Ready for a crazy day of fun in the country!

Apparently county Wicklow is considered the Garden of Ireland, so it was bound to be stunning! Our tour guide was Trevor and the driver was Eagars, and it was a riot. I took lots of notes and Trevor quotes today so here we go.

The Spire of Dublin or the Monument of Light, which was put up for the millennium….two years late. “It’s the tallest sculpture in the world. 5 million Euros, 200 entries, and they chose that.... A spike. We call it the spire in the mire, the stiletto in the ghetto, the rod to God, the pole in the hole. It is apparently a 21st century interpretation of a Celtic standing stone, he was certainly stoned on something when he thought of that.”

Long shot of the spire

A little bit closer. Not much better, right?

We passed a statue on O’Connell street of Daniel O’Connell, who is an Irish national hero, aka the Liberator, and there were 4 angels on it, representing four virtues he possessed: fidelity, patriotism, courage, eloquence. One has a bullet hole in her left breast from the Uprising in 1916. "If she were alive today, she'd be dead...” 

Daniel and the angels. Can't see the bullet hole from here, but it's there.

In speaking about the war between King William of Orange and King James II, he said: "A Dutchman defeated a Scotsman for the British throne in Ireland. If you are confused by that, so were we.”

The garden of Ireland is right! So many pictures from the bus windows.

Interesting details of the Irish flag, also called the “Tri-Color": green is for nationalists, traditionalism and Catholic heritage, orange is for unionists, Protestantism and supporters of William of Orange, white is for peace, in the hopes that they would eventually become one.

"We have an international crew today, your tourguide is from Ireland, your driver is from Latvia, and the bus is from Germany, so welcome to the European Union."

"Eagars is a very capable driver, he only had 3 pints of Guinness for breaky."

Eagars NEEDED to be a good driver for these roads!

Wellington hated that he was Irish. He was once asked how proud he was to be Irish. "Just because one is born in a stable doesn't make it a horse." Daniel O'Connell shouted across the Parliament floor "It might not make you a horse, sir, but it certainly makes you an ass.” Touché, Mr. O'Connell.

Our first stop was to this gorgeous little place called Glencree. It was established by Wellington as a reformatory school in 1801. It was used during the Irish famine in 1850's as a reformatory school for children, used during trouble in Belfast in 1910's for children from the north and the south to promote peace and unity, used during the 2nd world war for children. Still used today to promote peace. 

The gates of Glencree

St. Kevin's church at Glencree, just inside the gates

The barracks! They aren't used now, but they leave the building up.

Also at Glencree was a German war burial site for the German pilots who crashed over Ireland during the second world war, who were buried in Ireland where they died, and most were not identified. They have now been reintured all together here and a memorial is there. That was really cool.

Deutsch in Ireland? Go figure.

Loved seeing this in German. So touching.

Here's the English version. They had it in Irish on the 3rd side.

The quiet little German cemetery with almost no names.

Most of the stones just had this written on them, as identities have been lost.

Truly a special place.

We drove to the bridge from PS I Love You, and took pictures there. So gorgeous! One of the most beautiful places I have ever been.

No heather on the hills, but Trevor said he's never seen heather look like it did in the movie in 15 years as a tour guide. Movie magic LIES.

Waiting for Gerrard Butler, and he's late...

Fun fact: 6 million people live in Ireland. There are 8 million sheep. As Trevor says, "If the sheep decide to form an uprising, we are in trouble."

Wicklow was used for the movie Braveheart. "Those weren't Scotsman, they were members of the Irish national reserves running amok wearing kilts.” 

See why people film in this area? My goodness...

When Trevor was talking about the movie Far and Away, which was also filmed in Wicklow: "Tom Cruise sounded like a demented leprechaun.”

Our next step was to Guinness Lake. That was gorgeous and up high and the views were amazing. They do the filming for the show Vikings and the set was there, so that was cool.

Guinness Lake! If you look closely, you can see the Viking village down on the sand!

We saw the little village of Annamoe where Daniel Day-Lewis lives. We saw the driveway up to his house, which we did not see, which was sad. Steph and I have plans to come back and find him.

Then we went to my favorite Irish place: Glendalough. It means the glen of two lakes. It’s a Monastic city founded by St. Kevin, and anyone can claim sanctuary for 90 days. We were tempted. 

The inestimable Trevor by the Celtic cross at Glendalough!

The day was so pretty, and then suddenly we saw rain coming in when we were walking to Lower Lake, and it was coming in fast. “What do we do?” “Nothing, there’s no time!” So we all threw our hoods up and stood there, waiting. It was hysterical, we just got hit with this wall of water that we saw coming in. Then in 5 minutes, it was over and the sun came back out. So classic. I walked barefoot in the waters of the Upper Lake, so I felt super Irish.

Upper Lake! Have you ever seen such colors?

Upper Lake was so gorgeous.

I took my shoes off right after this...

I match the countryside! It's a sign, I should stay.

There is an old tradition at Glendalough that hopping around the tall Round Tower on 1 foot ante-clockwise 7 times means you get married within 90 days. Steph and I didn’t want to take any chances, but 90 days was fast, so we didn’t do the whole 7. Still, we’ll see.

The Round Tower! Hopping took place after some people left. Didn't want to be obvious.

After that, we got back on the bus. We were trapped on the bus forever after a horrible crash on the motorway, so took a detour to the restaurant, and it took ages, so Trevor started PS I Love You movie on the bus.

We FINALLY got to the pub. Johnnie Fox's is the highest pub in Ireland, established in 1798. The table we sat at had drawers filled with notes and drawings from other people all over the world who had eaten there. So we spent a bit of time coming up with what to say before the food arrived. I had traditional Irish lamb stew served with a puff pastry. It was AMAZING….

Johnny Fox's! Coolest pub ever. We had the whole back of the place reserved for our bus.

The drawer of letters.

Yummmmmmm........

Then we headed back to Dublin. Thursday nights in Dublin are dubbed "late night shopping" nights because all of the stores are open until 9:00. Then we took the public transit system, called the Luas, back to our hotel.

One last Trevor line for the day: "800 pubs in Dublin. 650 churches. We have our priorities straight.”

It was a fantastic day. I have lots of pictures to show when I get back! Tomorrow we take the ferry to Wales, go to Lyme Park [PEMBERLEY!!!], and then up to Manchester. Fun and busy again!