Hen Parties

We took the short flight from Belfast to Edinburgh accompanied by at least two large Hen Parties. One group of girls really looked terrible. In fact, they looked like they had caught the wrong plane. Had they been heading to Boston for the SlutWalk, I would have expected their attire. On the other hand, the other group of girls was pretty cute...t-shirts and all. Nicola's Hen Party 2011...One Hen, Lots of Chickens, and No Cocks! Brilliant, I think.

Mom fell in love with the UK upon arriving in Edinburgh. We stayed at a fantastic little B&B in Edinburgh called The Hedges. The owners Heather and Ian are amazing. Heather is precious! And Ian makes a killer breakfast! Not only did we love our B&B, we loved Edinburgh's architecture. It really is a beautiful, and VERY lively city.

Our first real day in Scotland we spent driving to Blair Atholl, home of Blair Castle. This is where our link to Scottish royalty comes in. Blair Castle is an extremely neat place, surrounded by peacocks as well. (I collect those, remember?) Blair is a very different kind of place, even from the outside its far different from any other castles I've seen but no less resembles those of fairytales. Thank goodness the walls were covered with pictures of the Murray family to whom my mom finds her linkage to Scot Royals.

Blair Castle

We also stopped by Pitlochry for a quick snack and Dunkeld (where our ancestors were married and buried).

Dunkeld Cathedral

Then back to Edinburgh we went in time to catch a fabulous dinner at Conan Doyle Pub where I experienced "haggis" for the first time. After dinner, we had tickets to see Grease (the musical) at the Playhouse. It was the most entertaining thing I've seen in years. Multiple Hen Parties joined us for the show, and every single one of them sang along. They knew every word to every song, just as we did. People were even dancing at the end...forget a standing ovation, just dance to the Grease Remix (yes, the one we hear on the radio on this side of the pond every summer).

Grease is still the word!

Before leaving Edinburgh we took a bus tour, just to make sure we had actually SEEN the sites we were SUPPOSED to see. We also spent some time talking with Heather before exchanging friendly hugs and off we went to catch a train to London.

Kiss Me, I'm Irish

It's no lie. I really am Irish. At least 1/32nd anyway. My family is about as American as it gets. People on both sides of my family have been on the West Bank since the 1600s. However, my most recent ancestor to immigrate to the United States was born in Longford, Ireland. His father is buried in Longford County. My mom and I tried to find their old township and even their cemetery sites but didn't have any luck. It doesn't help that they were actually listed as having lived in Glannagh, Ireland. According to the 1906 census, this township only had 11 homes. And today, the only thing I know that is in Glannagh is an archery club. That's about it.

We rented a car in Dublin, so I spent two days driving from the right side of the car on the left side of the road. Awkward to say the least, but we survived without any issues. However, after two days of driving in Ireland, all I can say is...it's green. Otherwise, it as hypnotizing how similar it looked no matter how many miles we covered. All the way from Dublin to Cork, to Limerick, to Longford...and then on to Northern Ireland where we flew out of Belfast.

Northern Ireland is also very important to my family's heritage. Northern Ireland was formerly known as Ulster Plantation. It was settled by the Scots and the Brits about 400 years ago. My mom's side of the family has roots in Ulster, linked to the Duke of Atholl (in Scotland). More about that later. Anyway, the last people to immigrate to the United States on my mother's paternal grandmother's line came from Ulster Plantation (i.e. Northern Ireland) by 1732 and happen to related to Scottish royalty. Fantastic, isn't it? Too bad genealogy so easily becomes an obsession, it means lots of time wasted figuring out exactly how our ancestor that immigrated to the US was related to the Scottish Royalty (why didn't he stay in Scotland?). However, once that definite link (and by definite, I mean the documentation backing up what we thinking we know) is obtained, we will have that line of the family traced back to at least 1065. How awesome is that?

On the map, I outlined all my driving. The blue outlines all the driving we did on our first day, the yellow outlines all the driving we did on the second day (not counting the mindless driving around Longford looking for Glannagh). Finally, the black line is the route I took on my trip back in April of 2009. I have to admit, the black line was a much more awe-inspiring drive than all the green, and more green, and more green along the other two lines.

Blogger/Blogspot Fail

I definitely fell victim to the Blogger software maintenance. It ruined all my saved posts...i.e. I had to start over on half of them! Therefore, when I got home from the UK and planned to share all my lovely experiences with you all...it failed to post all those that I had scheduled for the future. I was on call on Friday and slept it off yesterday, so I'm just now realizing that five days worth of posts never happened. (You should have been getting new posts from the 11th!) This is so frustrating. Hopefully, as I get used to this whole blogging thing and learn more about it, I'll be able to avoid such annoyances. Anyway, back to sharing my recent travels with you so that I can get on to some other ideas I have to share soon enough!

A picture to leave you on a happy note...I met this beautiful peacock on my trip. He was such a show off!

Castle (and I Don't Mean the TV Show)

As I mentioned, First Class was amazing. We jumped off the plane and then met our chauffeur. That's right--a chauffeur. It was high class all the way...to Bristol. After reading many recommendations not to drive in Britain immediately after arrival, we decided to hire a taxi driver to take us from London Heathrow to Stonehenge, then to Bath, then to Bristol. It was a great way to recover from the flight (with multiple nods on the drives between our stops). Chas, our taxi driver, was awesome. He apparently lived in the area we drove through, so was very educated about the area.

Our first stop was Stonehenge. It is extremely interesting and mysterious. Most of all, I was just in awe of the ability of man to drag a multitude of five ton stones across a waterway and another long distance of hilly countryside. Amazing. I witnessed a couple girls doing cartwheels while their family was taking pictures, and I couldn't help but copy them.

Stonehenge Cartwheels

After witnessing the mystery of Stonehenge, we hopped back in the van and went on to Bath. Even Chas asked what my plans for Bath were, but honestly, it was just because multiple people have told me it was a must-see. I have to agree. Bath is a beautiful city! My mom and I really enjoyed the shopping as well.

Bath Abbey

Then it was one more drive to Bristol airport to jump on over to Dublin where we stayed at Clontarf Castle. Clontarf is a beautiful place. The original castle makes up the lobby, restaurants, and public areas. The rest of the hotel is a modern era add-on. It's not centrally located, but very easy to get in and out of the city and to get to downtown only takes a couple minutes by car. The fresh fruit and chocolates awaiting our arrival were just another lovely detail.

Clontarf Castle, Dublin, Ireland

Across the Pond

On the plane to the UK! And so very excited. My mom and I are like four-year-olds in a candy store. I never knew flying first class, internationally, was so fabulous.

I scrubbed a case today with a plastic surgeon that told me the only reason you actually go on vacation is to gloat about it. So I'm going to start gloating now. The first class cabin on this flight is one of the "Flagship Suites". It reclines to a full bed and has all sorts of gadgets. My mom and I are gadget nerds, so this seat is right up our alley.

Features I have discovered (with help of the inflight "Seat Info" video):

1. The chair turns side to side
2. The chair reclines all the way to a "bed"
3. I have a very large table for dinner (and breakfast later)
4. I have my own TV with far too many movies and TV shows...I plan on watching The King's Speech and possibly No Strings Attached next
5. A night light
6. DC Power
7. Bose Noise Canceling Headphones
8. An amenities kit with toothpaste, toothbrush, socks, eye mask, chapstick and lotion (Burt's Bees), ear plugs
9. A copy of the NY Times
10. Blanket and pillow
11. Far too much storage for one person
12. A fabulous place to land--with an Arrivals Lounge!

It's show time...The King's Speech is on and my Sauvignon Blanc and dinner are waiting. :)