La-la-la-la-London!

All right. So the vacay posting hasn't been very frequent, but here I am again, coming to you directly from London on the second last night of my trip. We just finished our grand tour of England/Wales/Ireland this afternoon, and I've got tomorrow left to run around London like a madwoman, trying to see and do as much as possible.

Being as I'm not sure how much internet time I have left on this thing, plus my mind is a bit fuzzy and not overly coherent at the momenet because I'm pretty tired, I'm just going to randomly list things from my trip...

• I love the red dragon symbol of Wales. I got a Starbucks mug with the dragon on it, thus fulfilling my quota of one Starbucks mug per trip (when possible - no Starbucks mug was to be had in Cuba). (Sorry for my love of Starbucks Wes.)
• I felt a little bit seasick on the ferry from Wales to Ireland. And I *never* feel seasick. Sitting on the top deck of the ferry in the fresh air made me feel a bit better.
• I really really really loved Ireland and plan to go back someday. It's a crazy-delicious country.
• I kissed the Blarney stone! Can you not just tell how this blog entry is far more eloquent than any that I've written before.
• After climbing up a couple castles, I learned that castle steps are pretty precarious. I can't imagine having to run up (or down) them in chain mail.
• I discoverd that I like Guinness. I've never tried it in Canada because I assumed I probably wouldn't like it since I'm not a big beer drinker... But, I loved it on first sip!!! Now, I've heard that Guinness tastes better in Ireland, because the bartenders are trained in the correct manner. I watched, and the only trick to me seemed to be was that they half poured it, let it sit, and then finished it off.
• Oh yeah, my first sip of Guinness was is this crazy country Irish pub called the Shanty.
• We drove along a scenic 100 mile loop in Ireland called The Ring of Kerry. It is one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen. Everyone should go around the Ring of Kerry before they die. It starts in Killarney.
• The second time I had Guinness was in Limerick at South's Pub. If you've ever read Frank McCourt's book Angela's Ashes, you'll recognize South's as the pub where Frank's dad drank all of his wages. I imagine South's is a bit cleaner since back then.
• The washrooms (or loos, I should say) at South's were labelled "Frank" and "Angela".
• The Guinness at South's was fabulous. They imprinted a shamrock on the top of the beer. Neat-o.
• Dublin is a crazy busy city. We didn't spend that long in the city centre but I plan to go back. I spent most of my time at the National Gallery, where I saw a lot of awesome paintings, my favourite being a Vermeer (a Dutch painter). I've always been intrested in Vermeer since I read Girl with a Pearl Earring... Anyway, it was awesome seeing one in real life.
• I know all of the words to the song Molly Malone. (In Dublin's fair cit-y... where the girls are so pret-ty...)
• The ferry ride from Dublin to North Wales was much much much calmer. I'd even wager to say it was enjoyable.
• In North Wales, I visited a town called Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwyll-llantysiliogogogoch. Say that five times fast. It translates to "the church of St. Mary in the hollow of white hazel trees near the rapid whirlpool by St. Tysilio's of the red cave".
• If you like rock-climbing, go to Snowdonia National Park in North Wales. Not that I did it myself, but I did see the wicked rocks in this park.
• If you ever have time, visit Chester Enlgand. It's very pretty.
• Today I visited Iron Bridge, and Stratford-Upon-Avon before arriving back to London. If I ever hear another Stratford, Ontario tourist bitch about how busy that city is, I will tell them to go to England.
• I'm pretty sure the English swans could beat our Canadian swans up.
• I went to Harrod's this evening and almost went into shopping meltdown. The store has 300 departments. I think my favourite was the candy department.
• Had an enjoyable dinner at a restaurant called Giraffe. If you're ever there, try one of their smoothies. They're delish.
• Watch your wallet in London. On our way from Harrod's to dinner, we ran into some ppl from our tour. As they were walking into Harrod's, a pickpocket stole one guy's wallet but his wife was able to chase the scoundrel down.
• Things are soooooooooo expensive over here. I don't understand how people can make ends meet. Everything will seem so cheap when I'm back home.

Okay, so that's a rundown. I've taken lots of pictures, which will be uploaded as soon as I fix my computer woes back in the new country.

Catch you when I'm back home! I'm not ready to go back home, but my wallet is...