London and Dublin

Spent a wonderful 10 days with Carolyn and Kimmie in London and Dublin! We left Florence around 6pm on Thursday, October 14th bound for the Pisa airport by bus. We caught our plane for London but ended up getting in about an hour late. By the time we reached London it was already about 1am. We had pre-booked our bus into the city but the late arrival of our plane not only made us miss our bus, but we also missed the last bus until 7am the next morning.

We looked at each other thinking we would have to spend the night in the airport. But then the bus company announced that they had specially ordered another bus to take us into the city! YEAH!

We ended up reaching London around 3am. As the bus snaked its way through the city we got a moonlit tour of all the major attractions including Big Ben, Parliament, The Thames, The London Eye, Trafalgar Square, etc. It was so beautiful at night with most of the streets empty. We made our way to the hostel. We knew that we would be getting into London really late and I booked our accommodations accordingly but you never know what you are going to find when you arrive especially how the neighborhood will be, etc. We lucked out! We were staying in the Westminster neighborhood near Buckingham Palace and the street the hostel is on is so nice. We checked in with no problems and climbed the stairs to our room. We had a 6 person room with a bathroom in the hallway. We got our pj's out of our bags in the hallway and changed in the bathrooms before going in because it was so late. From our window we had a view of the London Eye and Parliament! We crawled into our super comfy bunk beds and passed out.

The next morning we got up and dressed for a windy day of sight-seeing. During her morning stretch, Kimmie grabbed onto the top bunk and arched her back proclaiming, "I learned this from my cat!". She was completely serious and I almost died laughing. I knew it was going to be a good day. I decided to bring my winter coat at the last minute and I am soooo glad I did. In the mornings it was below freezing. The hostel was cozy and warm which was totally deceiving. Every time we tripped out the door we were met by a cold blast of air from the Thames. We did get a day or two that was a little warmer (sweater weather) but I wore leggings under my jeans on most days. We were really lucky though and didn't get much rain for most of the trip. Each morning the hostel provided breakfast (cereal, tea, toast, and oatmeal) which was really nice. It also offered an opportunity to stare at everyone else staying there which was probably the best part. For the most part, most everyone staying in the hostel was European and you hear every language imaginable while eating your cereal. There were also a lot of Chinese and Japanese tourists. I was kind of surprised to see how much luggage most people had though. I was expecting more backpackers and it turned out to be mostly people with large rolling bags like the one I used to move to Italy. Anyway, everyone was really nice. We had three roommates during our stay - two Chinese and one French. None spoke English but they all understood American pop music and facebook.

Our first stop upon leaving the hostel was the PHARMACY!!! BOOT'S PHARMACY!!! Ever since I got sick a month ago I have been dreaming of Boot's. I had been telling Kimmie and Carolyn about it and we found one right near the hostel. The second we entered, all three of us let out little gasps of wonder. You have never seen 3 girls so excited over vitamins, hair products, and over-the-counter medications. Italy has a lot to offer, but there is no benadryl, no multi-vitamins, and certainly not my favorite English hair pomade that I can't even get in the States!!! Anyway, they also have food which is really good and really cheap. We ate there about 10 times.

Over the next 5 days we hit every major historical site and museum in town. I am blessed with two girls that love museums and walking around as much as I do and we hit the National Gallery, National Portrait Gallery, British Museum, the Tate Modern, and the Victoria & Albert Museum. Got to see the Rosetta Stone again as well as countless master works by artists like Van Gogh, Picasso, Monet, Vermeer, and also this which I find so striking. It is a portrait of the artist's wife. I saw it the first time I visited the National Gallery and hoped to see it again. I found it and stared for awhile -- one of my favorite things to do. In person, the fabric of her dress and the hairs on the back of her neck are absolutely mesmerizing. We also visited the Tower of London and saw the site of the beheading of Anne Boleyn and countless others as well as the crown jewels. We visited Buckingham Palace, St. Paul's Cathedral, and Trafalgar Square and also the FSU London Study Center where I lived while in London last year. We spent a couple of hours at Westminster Abbey gawking at Queen Elizabeth's tomb and the burial sites of Kipling, Newton, and memorials to Shakespeare and Jane Austen among others. So much amazing history!

We also spent some time in pubs eating bacon, pot pies and POTATOES! We don't ever really get potatoes in Florence and apparently I've missed them. One night we went out for a night on the town and ended up in Soho at a club called On Anon. It was fun and packed and we danced and had really expensive drinks. Met many strange people from all over the world and the occasional Brit. Very fun.

I absolutely love London. It strikes me as a place I could easily make my home. The people are all so polite and ready to offer directions or help. Love the Tube and the culture. It was a great five days.

Then we headed to Dublin on the 19th. We hopped on the city bus to get from the airport to the hostel. About 10 minutes into the trip we realized that even though we knew which stop to get off, none of the stops were labeled or announced. Another passenger overheard us talking about it and offered to tell us where to get off. A few minutes later when we were wondering around trying to find the actual hostel another man offered to lead us there! We didn't even have to ask for help. Throughout my stay in the UK, I was continually impressed by the politeness and helpfulness of both the Irish and the Brits.

The Dublin hostel wasn't as cute as the London hostel but we had a private room and bathroom. It was located off a busy shopping district, a few minutes from most of the major sites of Dublin. We got some tips from the staff at the London hostel about what to see in Dublin and we hit the streets right away to do some shopping. We found a store called Penney's that sells cheap clothes and bought a couple of things. Then we walked over to the Grafton Shopping District and tried to find the Trinity College campus passing the former parliament house. We looked everywhere and couldn't find it. The next day a passerby overheard us talking about it and pointed to a building and said "there it is!". It was totally unmarked but we walked through the front door to find that the whole campus laid just behind it. The campus library houses the Book of Kells and an impressive rare book collection. We paid an entrance fee and I was in librarian heaven for the next hour. Look at this. Totally cool! I really wish I had spent the time to look into a little Irish history before the trip. I know that I must have seen some really impressive things at the library I just didn't have any frame of reference. Goes to show that it always pays to do your homework.

After that, we went to the Irish National Gallery. The collection was small but really impressive. The had a sizable Irish artist collection that I really loved including a painting that I can't remember the name of and I can't find on the internet despite an exhaustive search. Anyway, it was great and also free. I love Europe's free museums! Tomorrow, all of the museums are open free to the public from 7pm-11pm and I can't wait. Hopefully, I will finally make it in to see the David or Michelangelo's stairs at the Laurentian Library. Besides the fact that it's free, I'm also hoping that the lateness of the hour will mean that it won't be packed. I love museums the most when they are almost empty. The gallery in Dublin was almost empty and it made the experience so wonderful.

Back to the story... Over the next two days we walked around the city, which is smaller than I was expecting, and visited St. Patrick's Cathedral, Christ Church Cathedral and Dublin Castle. We found a local library with another rare book exhibit which was wonderful. St. Patrick's was really interesting -- Jonathan Swift is buried there. Also, thought of Grammie K the whole time! We also shopped a lot and spent some time in pubs meeting the locals. The pubs are crammed with men mostly and very few women. I wasn't sure if that meant that women weren't supposed to be there or not but the local guys were happy to see Kimmie and Carolyn. Every pub we visited had live Irish music with a little Johnny Cash mixed in. Everyone really does sing along and do Irish jigs in between shots of whiskey and pints of Guinness. It was really fun and nice to be out of the cold. It was freezing! We all had about 5 layers on and I bought a hat and sweater.

Our last day in Dublin, we booked a bus tour that took us up to Northern Ireland. Everyone we talked to in Dublin said that we hadn't seen Ireland if we didn't leave Dublin and all had advice on where to visit. In the end we chose the Giant's Causeway and Belfast. We spent a lot of time on the bus but got to see endless hours of beautiful Irish countryside along the way. Unfortunately, the weather was terrible but we chocked it up to a REAL Irish experience. It was about around 40 degrees accompanied by wind and driving (sometimes freezing!) rain.

First stop was Belfast, capital of Northern Ireland (which, by the way, uses pounds rather than euros like the rest of Ireland - so I had to switch currency - and exchange rates - for the day). As we pulled into the city the tour guide regaled us with tales of "the Troubles" between Great Britain (Protestants) and Ireland (Catholics). It is all very confusing to me as it has both political and religious implications that are hard to sort out. I had brought up the topic of the British to an Irish guy in a pub a few days before and I asked him if the Irish are still anti-Great Britain. He said, "Yeah, we all hate the English!" without mincing words. Very interesting. Anyway, there were tons of bombings between the late 60's and early 90's ending with the Good Friday Agreement in 1998. Apparently, about two weeks ago the IRA bombed a store which is now surrounded with chainlink fence and barbed wire, the windows shattered by shrapnel and a lovely blast hole in the ground. Sorry folks, no pictures. Suffice to say that it made us all a little uneasy, but the city really is beautiful and I'm sorry that we didn't get to spend more time there, bombs or not.

Leaving Belfast, we visited this rope bridge (which I failed to take actual pictures of). It was so beautiful but we got totally soaked! I was worried that the rain would ruin my camera or the wind would knock it out of my hand, hence the lack of pictures. We scurried up the path to the bridge (about 15 minute walk) then across the bridge as fast a we could. The cliffs were really stunning, I wish that we could have stayed out there longer but the weather was really bad. This was totally worth braving the rain:



From there we headed to the Giant's Causeway - a volcanic rock formation that looks like honeycomb. By then the rain had stopped and we messed around in the tide pools and scrambled over boulders for an hour or so. It was so fun! We had a lovely lunch at a nearby hotel (bacon cheddar burgers with english mustard and chips!) then loaded back on the bus to Derry (or Londonderry depending on who you ask). We were still soaked from messing around outside and absolutely freezing. They let us off the bus for an hour in Derry. The only thing close to the bus stop was a mall and we all ran inside and bought new shoes and socks. I got galoshes for only 12 euro! That's 10 euro cheaper than any that I've seen in Florence!!! Yeah! I totally needed them anyway. In fact, last night we had a crazy, deafeningly loud lightening storm. I had no idea it rains like that here! I don't know what made the lightening so loud. Maybe the lack of greenspace and the channels created by the buildings but it kept me up forever even though I was exhausted. I grew up in the lightening capital of the world, and this storm definitely impressed me! So anyway, it was still raining hard this morning and off and on all day so I got to wear my new rain boots! Hooray!

So from there, we drove up the coast a ways, past farms and A LOT of sheep. We rounded a bend and stopped at this amazing ruin of a medieval castle perched on a cliff right above the sea. So cool.

We headed home the next day, VERY early in the morning. Our plan left at 6am and we were safely back in Firenze by 4pm. When we arrived all the Italians were out for their evening stroll around the piazzas and it was easily 20 degrees warmer than anywhere we had been for the past 10 days. My backpack and I headed home past the Duomo, past Santa Croce, up 5 flights of stairs and onto the couch. I was exhausted. I gathered all of my laundry, threw it in the washing machine and went to the grocery store. Bought some salad, salami, focaccia, mozzarella, and two tomatoes. Went home to battle with my gas stove so I could toast a sandwich which I then covered with dressed salad and ate in about 10 minutes. I sat on the couch for about 10 more minutes before I got completely bored and went for a walk. Did my usual circuit through Santa Croce, past the Duomo, turned toward the Bargello then up through Piazza Signoria then back to Santa Croce. Then broke down and got a gelato, even though I promised myself that I would STOP EATING GELATO! Seriously, it's turned into a daily habit -- sometimes twice a day. It's just so good! Got back to my house around 8 and passed out by 9. Thank you again Mom and Dad for my down comforter! It is saving me from my freezing apartment. Last night it was 54 degrees inside -- colder than it was outside.

So, fast forward to today, Tuesday. Tonight I have a date with Kimmie to eat pasta then go to museums. They are open for free from 7-11pm tonight and the last Tuesdays for the next two months! I'm totally excited to finally see the David and visit the Palazzo Pitti.