Montreal Trip

These are a month and a half old now, but better late than never. We took a short trip to Montreal over Memorial Day. Very cool city, fairly European-ish and foreign-seeming because of all the people speaking French. Not bad for only having to go as far as Canada, eh?

Bata Shoe Museum

History of Wine

Miscellaneous Montreal

Old Montreal Walking Tour

Museum of History and Archaeology

Edinburgh and Dublin pics

Here are the last pics from our UK/Ireland trip...

Edinburgh

Dublin

Close Your Eyes and Think Irish

I wrote this post while still in Dublin, and was waiting for Scotland pictures to get caught up before posting this one. However, Chris is taking too long, so I'm posting this one now. And as most of you know, we're in MI now, safe and sound! Hope to see you all soon!


Ok, so I said I loved Edinburgh, and I do, but Dublin definitely gives it competition! I'm so sad we only had 1 day!

So, everything went fine with the early flight and all, thank goodness. We got to our B&B, the Andorra, where our hostess kindly allowed us to check in and relax on the bed for a bit before we headed out. Not for long though, because I had read all over the Internet about this great walking tour of the 1916 Rebellion (The Easter Rebellion) done by two historians that was apparently completely fabulous. However, they do one tour per day, and it's at 11:30AM. So We only had about 15-20 minutes resting time before heading out for that.

It was a very cool tour. Our guide was hysterical, but also very knowledgeable. His colleague and he wrote a book (which we bought, of course) and he took us around the city to show us some key locations in the Rebellion, as well as monuments and important places of the key participants. If we had had more time I would have liked to proceed to the Kilmainham Gaol, where the participants were held and executed, but unfortunately, it is a ways out of town and we didn't have time to get out there.

That took a couple of hours, and then it was on for some Indian food!! We both couldn't resist samosas to start (veggie for me, lamb for Chris, accompanied by some amazing sauce!), and then the Tikki Masala sounded amazing enough that we both got that as well. OMG. I really could eat Indian twice a week for the rest of my life! As long as there were mango lassis to accompany it.

We spent the rest of the day walking around Dublin, purchasing my ornament and earrings, sitting in St. Stephen's Green, and just generally enjoying the city. It was warm and sunny, and perfect for strolling around and looking at the sights and tourists. (Sometimes the two were one...)

Being here for such a short time was really a mixed blessing: on one hand, I'm so glad I got to see this city, even for a short time! On the other hand, I feel like there is still so much I want to see! It's a little frustrating to only have one day in a place that really deserves at least a weekend, and a country that I want to take two weeks to explore. Next year perhaps...?

We'll fly home tomorrow, so see you all soon! We'll plan on keeping the blog going during our subsequent travels, and who knows, maybe another country is in our future...

Scotland pics, Part 1

Now Barb is ahead of me with blogging. I don't have all the pictures ready yet for Scotland. Here are pictures of our drive to Scotland, and of the Botanical Gardens. The other pictures of Edinburgh will come later.

Driving to Scotland

Royal Botanical Gardens Edinburgh

Falling in Love with Scotland

Driving to Scotland was when we realized driving on the left side of the road seemed normal now. Traffic circles could be interesting when we get back to the US. (After years of driving and never understanding them, I've finally figured them out- in England, of course!)

We arrived in Edinburgh with five hours still left with the car, but since we didn't really know what to do with ourselves, and I was desperate for a nap after my poor night of sleep, we dropped it off and got a ride to our B&B. We were staying at Ashlyn House, and to be honest, when we arrived, I don't know how they weren't fully booked! GORGEOUS interior, right next to the Royal Botanical Gardens, huge rooms, quiet part of town... it was perfect! Our room was absolutely stunning. They decorated it in the Victorian style, but not too overdone like so many. It had high ceilings (maybe 12 feet?) with beautiful double moulding around it, pink and white printed walls (although not too pink as to be girly) that looked like they were cloth-covered on the top half, with patterned plaster (paper?) for the bottom half, a padded, printed headboard with partial canopy that matched the curtains to the huge five foot windows. Like I said, gorgeous. I crashed for two hours and woke up feeling much more myself. Not wanting to miss anymore than we absolutely had to (due to time constraints), we headed to the Royal Botanical Gardens.

To both of our Moms: if you need a reason for traveling overseas, this is it! Just look at the pictures. We spend hours wandering in there and only scratched the surface it seemed! And even the things we DID see I want to see again! Huge gardens with an amazing variety of plants, all seemingly in bloom.

Dinner was Italian at a local place down the street. We ordered a bottle of red wine, some soup for me (still the throat thing) and some calamari for Chris, as well as a pasta and chicken dish for him and a dish of chicken with caramelized onions and peppers in a white wine and butter/garlic sauce for me. Exquisite! The chicken was so tender and juicy, and the onions went perfectly with it! I've kind of fallen in love with caramelized onions this past year.

We walked back to the B&B and had an early night, since the next day we wanted to do Edinburgh.

I pretty much love Edinburgh, and mostly because of one woman I met in a Christmas shop who was a total kindred spirit- foodie and Christmas lover who got excited when talking about either of the two, especially when she could point us in the right direction for her favorite food (unfortunately, we'd already eaten, so we couldn't work them in :( :( but next time for sure!)

So, I'm getting ahead of myself, talking about food. Let's back up to say that I once again slept very well the previous night, and after a light breakfast (for me anyways), we headed for Edinburgh Castle, a must-see according to every guidebook and website. I should also do a disclaimer that states that we were starting to get a little run down, all this traveling at the frantic pace, so if you notice that we're doing less and less in each city, that's why. We're exhausted!

So, the Castle. It has a really interesting history, although difficult for me to relate to you, since I get all the Charleses and Edwards mixed up. And the Bruces, Stewarts, and all the other inter-marrying monarchs. Go to Wikipedia.

Anyways, awesome views and we got to see the Scottish Crown Jewels, after once again encountering the Great Heathen Army. I was getting hungry and cranky before too long though, so we headed to find a pub for some cheap lunch (and ok, yes, some hard cider. Sue me!) I got a bacon cheeseburger American style, Chris had Italian Chicken, and we both left happy campers. (Well, happy until we found out the other places that had awesome food and we were too full to eat at them...)

I have been collecting Christmas tree ornaments from each country I visit this year, so I was on the hunt for a Scottish one (Yvonne, I forgot an English one, please get me one so I don't have a hole in the collection!) as well as some earrings. That's when we met the sweetie in the Christmas shop.

We walked down the rest of the Royal Mile to see the Castle at Holyrood, where the Queen of England stays when she is in Scotland. We didn't go in, partly because we were tired, but also partly because I think I heard people talking about Prince Charles either coming or being there. So closed to visitors. Back to the B&B!

Since we had to get up at 4:30AM to catch our flight to Dublin the next day, it was another early night.

Hexham Abbey & Hadrian's Wall

Hexham Abbey

Hadrian's Wall

Walking Hexham and Limping Hadrian's Wall

So by Wednesday morning I was still feeling pretty grim, but we headed out for Hadrian's Wall, although Chris promised that we wouldn't have to walk far on it. The drive from York to Hexham was beautiful and also driven safely, so it was a pleasant journey. We stopped in Hexham mostly because I was navigating and didn't know what we were doing. But we had been told at our B&B in York that the abbey there was worth seeing, so I guess it was ok.

They weren't joking. The abbey was really interesting, mostly because it really seemed like you should see monks walking around doing things as they did in the Middle Ages. One thing that immediately struck me was the wooden roof and wooden joint covers. Whereas in most abbeys the roof is either gilded, whitewashed, or painting, here it was left as dark wood. The abbey itself was pretty dark and cool inside. Besides the stunning stained glass, they also had a 13th century staircase that we went up, a Breeches Bible from the 17th century, and an Anglo-Saxon chalice. A quiet, peaceful break from driving.

We drove to the part of Hadrian's Wall that is where it's the highest, near Homestead Fort. After hiking uphill 1/2 mile (no joke, the information desk told us to expect that) and through another sheep pasture, we got to the wall. Snaking along ridges and over hills, it is in amazingly good condition in this spot. The workmanship is superb, the stones cut very square and stable enough to allow us to walk on it for a short while, just as the Roman soldiers would have done centuries ago. Looking at the views from the Wall, you can see why the location was chosen- there would be difficulty in hiding anywhere for miles! We really enjoyed the walk, but I was so sick and out of sorts that I couldn't do much at all before needing to turn back. I wish we could have seen more of it, but I guess that's for next time.

We stayed in a little village about 15 minutes from the wall called Wark in the Battlesteads Inn Hotel. Luckily for me, they had a restaurant in the hotel, so we didn't need to go far for dinner! It was also the place where I tried duck for the first time. I'm in love. It was beyond excellent, with an incredibly crisp, flavorful crust, but moist meat that fell off the bone, and then the bones fell apart from each other! Served with mashed potatoes, it was an excellent meal! I need to find duck in the US... Not sure what Chris ate or what he thought of it, since I was so busy rhapsodizing about mine that I'm not sure he ever got a word in.

That night wasn't good, as I couldn't sleep because of my cold. This is when I noticed that it didn't get completely dark outside until after 11PM, and began to get light at around 3:30AM. Are we in the Arctic Circle here?! Luckily, there was a lot of coffee for breakfast the next morning, and then we were off to Scotland!

(Continued next post)