Just in case there is anyone out there who cares.... which it doesnt seem like it.... because even though we are expected to write... there are never any comments... just sayin.
This weekend Katie is going to Dublin to get Jackie Poo and hang out until Tuesday. YAY! We dont have any plans set for sure yet, but we hope to hit the Dublin Castle, Killmainham Gaol, and maybe the zoo! And it will be our very first Valentine's Day together so we're definitely going to do something special, whether or not Jack is aware of that yet or not. ;) He will be staying for a total of two weeks and it is going to be wonderful! Katie will have lots to blog about when he has to leave at the end of the month...
Camille will be traveling to Nottingham, England to visit fellow Luther geeks. ha. She will be returning on Tuesday late late with Lizzi to spend some time in Galway. She is SUPER excited since she has not seen any of these people since late August. Two of those that she is visiting are going to be her roommates at her last year at Luther. Good stuff!
We will both try to blog about our weekends on Wednesday or so; keep checkin in!
LOVE
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
LONDON
I don't know why she said she'd promise... two posts in one day? That's asking a little too much... But alright, one day late. Here goes...
London- What can I say? It's one of my favorite places in the whole world!! We stayed with Chelsea's friends who are studying there for the semester so not only did we get cheap boarding, we also got a jam-packed weekend of fun! But let's start from the beginning- the Shannon airport. Well, this was quite the event. Shannon airport is quite small and we got there early enough in the morning where we were pretty much the only ones there, and we even checked in online ahead of time. You'd think we'd get right through with no problems, but you are wrong. First we went to the security desk without having our boarding passes stamped. Then I found out I had gotten my return ticket stamped so I had to go back to get the appropriate one done. As I was doing this, Camille fell victim to the "Random Frisking" and Chelsea got her bag searched and a lecture on how "anything that can become liquid must be in a plastic bag if she's carrying it on"-- referring to her deoderant, which for the record, Camille and I carried on with no problem AND no baggie (rebels, I know). Finally we were through and got to our gate, where we waited for over an hour to board. While in line to board, Camille and Chelsea decide that now was a great time to freak out about whether or not our bags are small enough to be carried on RyanAir planes, as if we could do something to change them. No worries, we got through just fine. Once on the plane, however, we were searching for our seats only to find out that you can sit anywhere you want! I chose the middle of the plane, which got us off last since you exit from the front AND the back... UGH talk about a strugglefest.
Alright, back to London events... The first night we arrived we pretty much went straight to the theater to see "Phantom of the Opera" which was, needless to say, amazing. Although we had a large group of Spanish high schoolers surrouding us who found it necessary to talk and sing along throughout the entire musical. Awesome. Loved it. But it was great anyway!
The next day we got up semi-early to try to make it to Buckingham Palace in time for the changing of the guards. As usual, we had difficulties and the Tube caused us to be almost an hour late. Thinking we had missed all the good stuff, we walk up and hear a band playing "Thriller" and joked about how it was probably the guards, as "Thriller" is obviously the Queen's favorite song... Turns out it was! The guards, that is. Although we decided it is likely that MJ was definitely on the iPod that Obama gave her when they met... Ha! The guard band went on to entertain the crowd with other pop-songs including Whitney Houston's "One Moment in Time" (which, for those of you who don't recall, happens to be the song that Camille debuted as a solo in our fifth grade Millenium concert. Fun fact.) Chelsea got extremely picture happy at this time, and if you would like to relive these events second-by-second, her photos will surely do the job. The rest of the day was dedicated to touristy stuff: Trafalgar Square, Westminster Abbey, Tower of London...
Saturday was dedicated to the Harry Potter tour that our hosts put together. We journeyed through the city to see the spots where Harry ran from Death Eaters in front of a small souvenier shop, where Harry ran from Death Eaters over the Millenium Bridge, Platform 9 and 3/4 (which was conveniently relocated as the station is being remodeled) and we even saw Hermione in a Burberry ad! Mixed in this day was several shopping stops where Chelsea and Camille bought a few too many items to fit cleanly in their suitcases, causing more fear in their hearts as we boarded our flight home.
Don't worry, we managed to fit in some culture at the Tate Modern and the British National museums. And at three a.m. on Monday night, my bed in Galway was never better. :)
Love, Katie (and Camille)
London- What can I say? It's one of my favorite places in the whole world!! We stayed with Chelsea's friends who are studying there for the semester so not only did we get cheap boarding, we also got a jam-packed weekend of fun! But let's start from the beginning- the Shannon airport. Well, this was quite the event. Shannon airport is quite small and we got there early enough in the morning where we were pretty much the only ones there, and we even checked in online ahead of time. You'd think we'd get right through with no problems, but you are wrong. First we went to the security desk without having our boarding passes stamped. Then I found out I had gotten my return ticket stamped so I had to go back to get the appropriate one done. As I was doing this, Camille fell victim to the "Random Frisking" and Chelsea got her bag searched and a lecture on how "anything that can become liquid must be in a plastic bag if she's carrying it on"-- referring to her deoderant, which for the record, Camille and I carried on with no problem AND no baggie (rebels, I know). Finally we were through and got to our gate, where we waited for over an hour to board. While in line to board, Camille and Chelsea decide that now was a great time to freak out about whether or not our bags are small enough to be carried on RyanAir planes, as if we could do something to change them. No worries, we got through just fine. Once on the plane, however, we were searching for our seats only to find out that you can sit anywhere you want! I chose the middle of the plane, which got us off last since you exit from the front AND the back... UGH talk about a strugglefest.
Alright, back to London events... The first night we arrived we pretty much went straight to the theater to see "Phantom of the Opera" which was, needless to say, amazing. Although we had a large group of Spanish high schoolers surrouding us who found it necessary to talk and sing along throughout the entire musical. Awesome. Loved it. But it was great anyway!
The next day we got up semi-early to try to make it to Buckingham Palace in time for the changing of the guards. As usual, we had difficulties and the Tube caused us to be almost an hour late. Thinking we had missed all the good stuff, we walk up and hear a band playing "Thriller" and joked about how it was probably the guards, as "Thriller" is obviously the Queen's favorite song... Turns out it was! The guards, that is. Although we decided it is likely that MJ was definitely on the iPod that Obama gave her when they met... Ha! The guard band went on to entertain the crowd with other pop-songs including Whitney Houston's "One Moment in Time" (which, for those of you who don't recall, happens to be the song that Camille debuted as a solo in our fifth grade Millenium concert. Fun fact.) Chelsea got extremely picture happy at this time, and if you would like to relive these events second-by-second, her photos will surely do the job. The rest of the day was dedicated to touristy stuff: Trafalgar Square, Westminster Abbey, Tower of London...
Saturday was dedicated to the Harry Potter tour that our hosts put together. We journeyed through the city to see the spots where Harry ran from Death Eaters in front of a small souvenier shop, where Harry ran from Death Eaters over the Millenium Bridge, Platform 9 and 3/4 (which was conveniently relocated as the station is being remodeled) and we even saw Hermione in a Burberry ad! Mixed in this day was several shopping stops where Chelsea and Camille bought a few too many items to fit cleanly in their suitcases, causing more fear in their hearts as we boarded our flight home.
Don't worry, we managed to fit in some culture at the Tate Modern and the British National museums. And at three a.m. on Monday night, my bed in Galway was never better. :)
Love, Katie (and Camille)
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Hello Hello Hello
Many apologies for waiting so long to update you all! Katie and I just got back from a long weekend in London, but more about that later...On Saturday, the 30 of January, Katie and I and several others went on a day trip to Connemara and Kylemore Abbey. The scenery was simply breathtaking! Connemara is the name for the countryside north of Galway. The area is identified by the type of rock found there, granite, because the majority of the island of Ireland is made of limestone. There were sheep everywhere, I would say the most we have seen at one time yet! And on our way to a beautiful 14 century monastery we got to see itty bitty baby sheep! So precious. Also on this adventure we were able to see Ashgrove Castle. It was owned for several years by the Guinness Family but today it is a castle turned hotel. Also extremely gorgeous. Pierce Brosnan grew up 20 minutes from the castle and had his wedding reception at the hotel. It used to cost anywhere from 700 to 1700 euro a night to stay there but now because of the recession you can stay there for about 80 euro a night! Haha. Also, you should know that the Lochness monster resides in this area of Ireland, not in Scotland. So, we finished the tour by spending some time at Kylemore Abbey. It is a breathtaking castle-like building that is curremtly inhabited by 6 Benedictine nuns. The sisters there used to run a boarding school for girls but because of the lack of interest and the age of the nuns that live there it is most likely that the entire building will be opened up for tourism, rather than just the grounds. It ws a long but gratifying day!
The next day (Sunday) we went out for our friend, Trisha's, birthday. We started out around 7;30pm and ate at this really nummy tavern on the Corrib River called Monroe's. From there we pub hopped and finally ended up at this pub in City Centre around 11:30 called the Front Door. There we met a group of local Irish guys who had apparently been drinking since 11am that morning. But they were a lot of fun and made sure that Trisha was having a good birthday celebration!
The next week was filled with classes and then LONDON!
We will post about London later tonight! I promise!!!!!!
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