Windsor castle

On Saturday we spend the day with Arin, Des, Jenna and Megan (Julieanne was at work). They took us to see Windsor castle which is where the Queen usually lives. We didn't get to go in because it was closed, but we got to see the outside. It is insanely touristy outside! There are tons of stores and pubs and stuff right outside the castle! It was pretty crazy. We even passed a wedding that had a bagpiper :D We also got to see the outside of Eaton college, which despite the name, is actually a boys school for middle/ high school. It was the weekend, so all of these boys were wandering outside. But I find this the strangest thing, for their uniform they have to wear tuxes with tail coats! It looks really quite odd.

London

We spent another day in London and we went to the Globe theatre, which was so cool!!! For all you non-drama people, that's the same theatre that Shakespear worked for. My Dad was really insisted that we also see a play, so we got to have ground space (no seats down their) to watch 'The Merry Wives of Windsor'. Even though standing the whole time was slightly tiring, that was definately one of the best places to be. I was standing so close to part of the stage that one of the womens skirts hit me! It was great fun, and the actors all played their over-dramatic roles very well. All of the art in the theatre was really quite amazing as well, same with the building of the theatre. After that excellent show we wandered around for a bit and saw the Big Ben and the London Bridge (which really wasn't worth it. It is VERY boring). I also got to see the bridge that was in the beginning of "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince". All in all a good adventure :D

England

After the Aran Islands we drove back to Dublin, returned our car and stayed the night in a hotel. The next day we took an early flight to London, England. We took the subway to the train station where we were scheduled to be picked up by my uncle Craig's sister Erin. Erin's daughter Julie-anne (hope thats spelled right) found us first and we started to get to know her. When Erin turned up we went to London and got to tour Buckimham palace. Let me tell you, that place is amazing!! The architecture is insane, and it is SO ornate! There are several different rooms with the names of colours (ex: blue room, gold room etc.) and a hallway full of portraits and statues. There is even a gallery devoted to the life of the current Queen. After our nice/wet tour of that part of London, we trained it home to Erin's home to meet her husband, Des, and her other two daughters, the twins, Jenna and Megan (You guys are awesome!).

Aran Island

Off the coast of Ireland there are a bunch of other little islands. There are a few that are called the Aran Islands, and they looked kinda cool, so we checked them out. After 30-some minutes of an uncomforatble ferry ride we landed on a very pretty little island. We went to a little pub for some nice tea, the we headed on a hike around the island. There are these brick walls EVERYWHERE. I think they were used as pens for sheep or something. But you could see where the people hadn't made walls, there were all of these gray rocks lieing on the ground: so the people had made some of these to just clear up the land. We went to this cool little castle on the top of the island that had an amazing vista, so we got some amazing pictures. There was also a really cool grave yard which had been there as long as people have lived there, which is more than 400 hundred years. The ride back was a lot more fun then the way there :D I stood on the back of the ferry and got semi-soaked ;)

Ciffs of Mohair

Ireland is pretty much just a big island. So the sea is all around you. Along the coastline there are probably many amazing cliffs and beaches and such, but the cliffs of Mohair are quite famous in the area we were in.
After driving for like half and hour in our rented car from a day shopping in the town, we managed to find our way to the cliffs. They are really gorgeous actually! There is a series of about 5 of them on one side of the place we were standing, and 1 bigger one on the other side. Theres a concrete walking path up the side and at the top there is a little castle. We went at sunset, so the sun was shining off the water and reflecting on the cliffs... So pretty :D

Book REview 1: England (I happened to read it first)

Ok, this is one of the things that I have to do for school, so bear with me ;p

Book: Many Waters
Author: Madeleine

This book is in the same series as 'A Wrinkle in Time'. That book gets quite intense with bizarre occurences and complicated scientific terms. This book, however, is a more even compilation of story and science. The story also adds an element of Theology into the mix.

Synopsis: Sandy and Denny play around with their father's scientific project for work. Withought meaning to, they send themselves from a cold, wintery, New England in modern times, to a hot, dry desert that they later find to be thousands of years ago. In this foriegn desert, they find a race of little people. After a family of these little people help Denny and Sandy get well from the terrible heatstroke, they become part of the family.
But the times are changing; with daughters increasing relationships with the mysterious Nephilim and Seraphim, along with father Noah's order from thier god, El, to build an ark in the middle of a desert.
With mini-mammoths, stories of love, and the power of believing, this book is a rare piece of literature. 8.5/10

Country Study No. 1 Ireland

Name: Ireland
Capitol: Dublin
Currency: Euro
Launguage(s): Official- Irish Unnoficial- English
Religion: Mainly Catholic, Some Protestant and Some Other
Government: Republic
Climate: Temperate
Average Temperature: 10 degrees celcius
Food:fish, oysters, soda-bread, cheese, potatoes, stews, guiness,
puddings,sausage, fish and chips, whiskey
Land: very green, rollng hills,occasional trees that have other plants growing up
trunks
Clothing: Like western clothing, but with more wool
Animals: Sheep,cows, horses
Total area: 70,280 sq km
Population: 3,797,257 (2000 est.)
FACT: 20th largest island in the world

Blarney Stone

I am now graced with the gift of Eloquence also known as the gift of gab. I have kissed the Blarney stone. It lies within the walls of the Castle of Belarney, a castle a few minutes away from the town of Kinsale. The castle is several centuries old, as is the story of the Stone.
Cormac Laidir MacCarthy, the builder of the Blarney Castle, being involved in a lawsuit, appealed to the goddess Cliodhna for her assistance. She told MacCarthy to kiss the first stone he found in the morning on the way to court, and he did so, with the result that he pleaded his case with great eloquence and won. Thus the Blarney stone is said to impact "the ability to deceive without offending". MacCarthy then incorperated the stone into the parapet of his castle.
To reach it you have to tip backwards with someone holding your legs to reach backwards into a hole that has only two little bars to keep you from falling all the way to the ground. Not for the fainthearted, you see.

Ireland Countryside

We have now stopped in the lovely little town of Kinsale. It has many historical moments to its credits, some of which shaped the Ireland we know today. The countryside itself, however, is gorgeous! Amazingly green, kind of like B.C., and so many amazing trees! Our B&B is really quite quaint, with an amazing view of the surrounding countryside... And two tv channels :p

The book of Kells

The book of Kells is one of the oldest books in Ireland. It as written in like 800 a.d. It's actually the four gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. It was written by some Monks. The colligraphy is incredable and the pictures are so incredably detailed! I saw it at museum... So incredable.

McDifference: Ireland

K, I have decided to compare McDonalds in every country to see the differences. Kind of wierd, I know but I thought it might be interesting. So I went into McDonalds today (not to eat, just to check it out) and guess what? Its elegant! All of the bright red and yellow with plastic is completely gone! There's wooden panelling all around, and all of the seats are cushined. There is art that is like people in dresses eating hamburgers. Theres t.v.'s in there as well! But the wierdest thing is that there is a McCafe! It's like starbucks basically. You can get a Mocchachino or a Frappacino or whatever and you can get pastries and muffins. It was really weird.
For different fast food, there was curly fries, The 'M' with bacon which was like a sandwhich, and not a single BigMac!!

Dublin, Ireland

I'm still finding it difficult to grasp the fact that I'm actually on another continent. But there's lots here to fool me into thinking I'm still in Saskatchewan. Kit Kat and Coke ads are everywhere. The main language is the same, except everyone has lovely accents. :) Theres like 3 Subways for every McDonalds. 'Teanage dream' and 'I'm yours' drift from the stores. The clothes are alot the same. Tons of jeans and bunnyhugs. There is a big preference for leggings with boots and stockings with flats though...
But theres alot here to remind me that I'm not in Rosthern either. For one, the architecture here is amazing! Lots of brick, and gothic designs and columns everywhere! The street that the cars drive on is paved, but the sidewalks! They are like three times as wide (which means the streets are twice as narrow)and instead of big squares lined up, they are smaller concrete tiles, kind of like a kitchen. They are really old, so many of them are cracking. It's kinda disconcerning having the sidewalk move under you! Double decker busses fill the streets There are lots of pigeons everywhere, which sort of creeps me out. I'm really paranoid that they will all decide to dive-bomb me with droppings!
The plane ride over the ocean was pretty awesome. You pretty much are forced to sit in sits for 6 hours and watch t.v. They have movies like Diary of a Wimpy kid and Clash of the Titans. For t.v. they have everything from Glee, to Criminal Minds. They also have a huge collection of music to pick from like glee and jb and kesha and bethoven.
I'm not so good at descibing this yet... hopefully I get better :p

Denver

We managed to get a flight to Denver. And me tell you, their airport is HUGE!! But they mange to make getting around kind of fun. They have escalators everywhere, and those awesome moving sidewalk things that make you feel like your moving at twice your speed :D To get from concourse to concourse they have this bus thing that you step onto, then there is some funky elevator music and one of those electronic womans voices telling where you are. Those buses go pretty fast too! We were going to get a flight to Dublin last night, but the girls in Saskatoon who got us our new tickets after our flight was cancelled managed to give us a boarding passes, but no tickets. In otherwords, we could not get onto the plane. The airport felt really sorry though, so they gave us a free night at a hotel. I personally think that might have been better, because this way we got to sleep in a comfybed instead of on a plane. At the moment, I am sitting in the Boston airport after taking a flight this morning... This airport is definately not as nice as Dever thought. It has a lot of ugly tiles and no cool art or fun ways to get around. Its just grey on grey :p Now I am on my way to a flight to Ireland- finally!

Departure

Well, the trip isn't starting out quite as planned! Our flight to Denver was cancelled due to an error in the electrical equipment that tells if the brake is on or not. Of course this is the week Maitenence decides to take a holiday... We will be taking a flight later this afternoon instead. Hopefully we can sleep, because waking up at 3:00 a.m. isn't so great :p