Ireland - Part 2

Hi again.  Here's more from Ireland.

Gap of Dunloe - The gap is a pass through two mountain ranges near Killarney.  The weather was poor so we took a carriage ride rather than walk.

Photo taken by the carriage driver - no we didn't drive ourselves!

The Gap

Cork - More rain and cool weather so we didn't venture far from the hotel.

There was a putter in our room so I worked on my golf game

Blarney Castle and Blarney Stone

Blarney Castle and the Blarney Stone are a short drive from Cork.

Kissing the Blarney Stone is said to endow the kisser with great eloquence.  We can definitely use more eloquence but we noted that Tripadvisor.com ranked the Blarney Stone as the most unhygienic tourist attraction in the world.  With mixed feelings, we scaled the steps of Blarney Castle to the top where the Stone is.  When you get to the top, you find out that the Stone is in a difficult to reach spot and you need to hang upside down with a guide holding your waist.

Vanessa and the Blarney Stone - do her lips touch the Stone?

Blake and the Blarney Stone - do his lips touch?

Blarney Castle and the grounds that surround it are amazing even in the rain.

View from the top of the castle

Vanessa in caves under the castle - hiding from the rain

Blake in one the towers of the Castle

More to come from Ireland.

Blake and Vanessa

Ireland - Part 1

Friendly people, beautiful countryside, good food, lots of music - Ireland has it all.  We'd call it paradise if the weather was better.  As we found out, it can be very cold, windy and rainy in July.

We did a week-long driving tour through southern Ireland.  Our stops were Adare, Killarney, Cork, Waterford and Dublin.  Here are highlights from the first half of our trip.

Adare

Thatch roof houses

Empty beer kegs - must have been a big party

Bunratty Castle (near Adare)

Bunratty Castle - 600 years old with a new roof added in the 1950s

Staircase inside the castle

Top of the castle

Ring of Kerry - the Ring is a day-long driving trip around a peninsula in southwest Ireland; the scenery is very much like the Cabot Trail on Cape Breton

Stone fort built in the 8th or 9th century

Ballycarberry Castle

Vanessa in a gap in the castle walls

Us with the Atlantic Ocean in the background

Fogher Cliffs on Valentia Island (west end of Ring of Kerry)

Valentia Island

That's Ireland so far.  The weather was good up to this point but it gets bad on the second half of our trip.

Blake and Vanessa

British Grand Prix

The British Grand Prix car race was the first sporting event on our trip (hopefully it won't be the last!).  It is one of the biggest sporting events in England with over 100,000 people at the track and millions more watching on television.

It was Blake's chance to see the best drivers in the world up close.  Vanessa has no interest in car racing but it gave her the opportunity to test her fancy new camera on some really fast moving subjects.  

Here are photos from the first day.  The drivers were doing single laps of the track and their times were used to determine the order that they start in for the actual race on day 2.

One of the dozen or so grandstands and part of the track

Mark Webber had the fastest time

Fernando Alonso was slower as he did some off-roading

Blake is ready to race - maybe next year?

One of the parking lots - very well organized

The race itself was the next day.  The winner was Fernando Alonso (the guy in the sand above).

Pre-race show by the Red Arrows (Royal Air Force Aerobatic Team)

Start of the race - it rained just before the start

  

Fernando Alonso (red car) getting ready to pass Lewis Hamilton - the hometown favourite

The best part of car racing is what you hear rather than what you see.  We have video that captures the sound of the engines but the files are too big for the blog.  We'd be happy to show them to you when we get back. You can also talk to Blake about off-throttle blown diffusers and other racing details or talk to Vanessa about the burst function on her camera.

The next sporting event is ... stay tuned.  Blake is making plans.

Blake and Vanessa

Oxford

Oxford was another great city.  It reminded Vanessa of Uppsala in Sweden where she did her last semester of university - both Oxford and Uppsala are university towns.  The University of Oxford is the second oldest university in the world and its buildings and students dominate the area.

Here are a few photos from around town.  

High Street

Gargoyles

Bikes are a necessity in Oxford - just like Uppsala

The oldest part of Oxford is Oxford Castle.  It was built in the 11th century and then converted into a jail in the 14th century.

Oxford Castle - the tower on the right part of the original structure

Vanessa's mug shot

Blake was jailed for driving on the wrong side of the road

Us on the motte ("raised earthwork") that was part of Oxford Castle

The coolest thing we did in Oxford was see a performance by the Oxford Philomusica.  It was a great night of classical music.

Blake and Vanessa

P.S.  We knew that it would be a challenge to find the time and a place to do laundry while on our trip.  Here's the result of our first laundry effort:

The blue spots on the sock are ink.  The person who used the dryer before us left part of a pen in the dryer and the pen exploded when we used the dryer.  Most of our socks and underwear have ink all over them.  A little Oxford blue colouring to remind us of our trip to Oxford!

Stonehenge

It's hard to find the right words or photos for Stonehenge but here's our attempt ...

A couple photos.

The pictures don't capture how big the stones are.  The largest are almost 30 feet long with 22 feet visible above ground and 8 feet below and they weigh up to 50 tons each.  The stones sitting on top of the others are a little smaller but still weigh about 25 tons.

There isn't a definitive answer on how Stonehenge was built over 4,000 years ago but they must have had a foreman like Blake's dad.  He's the only person we can think of who could figure out how to get huge stones standing upright and balance another huge stone on top of them.  Please note that engineering skill is not hereditary so please don't call either Blake (junior) or his brother Trevor if you have any Stonehenge-like or other construction projects in mind.  

There also isn't a definitive answer on why Stonehenge was built but there's plenty to read on Wikipedia if you're interested.  If you want a laugh and lots of incorrect info on Stonehenge, do a search for "spinal tap the funny bits" on YouTube.  It'll take you to a video clip from an old movie that spoofs British heavy metal bands. Spinal Tap is the name of the band and they do a song called Stonehenge in the second half of the video clip.

One more photo - here's one of us at Stonehenge just to prove that we were there.  

Stonehenge is definitely worth a visit if you get the chance.

Blake and Vanessa

Salisbury

We spent three days in Salisbury.  We picked Salisbury because it's close to Stonehenge.  We didn't do any research on the town before we got there.  We had some nice surprises when we arrived.

The first surprise was Salisbury Cathedral.  The cathedral is one of the largest churches in England and has the tallest spire in England (over 400 feet).  It's home for one of the four remaining versions of the Magna Carta - written in 1215, it established basic laws and rights for individuals and was the basis for several national constitutions including Canada and the U.S.

Here are a few pictures of the cathedral.

Salisbury Cathedral (photo by Vanessa - not a postcard!)

Interior of cathedral

Side door into cathedral

Tomb of St. Osmund.  Holes allowed people to get closer to his coffin which was believed to have healing properties.

New choirboys are initiated by bumping their heads three times against this stone.  Stone has worn down over time.

The other nice surprise about Salisbury was the town itself.  It was just what we imagined a small English town would look like.  Here are a few photos.

View from our hotel with cathedral in background

Avon River which ran beside our hotel

Center of Salisbury with cathedral in background

High Street Gate - part of wall built around cathedral

Driving outside of Salisbury

Next stop - Stonehenge!

Blake and Vanessa

London

Hi all.  We spent three days in London and here's a recap.

We saw London's major attractions through the London Eye - a giant ferris wheel over the Thames River.  It provides great views of London.

London Eye

View from London Eye with Parliament and Big Ben in background

Here are a few other London photos from ground level.

Jewel Tower across from Parliament - built in 1365

Part of Westminster Abbey

Sign for bomb shelter below apartments across from Parliament

We followed the footsteps of Jack the Ripper through the east end of London.  His five murders were committed near our hotel over 100 years ago.  Lucky for us it's a much better neighbourhood now.

We couldn't leave without a night at the theatre.  We went to the theatrical version of Dirty Dancing - you can guess who's pick that was.

Outside the Aldwych Theatre

We're now headed to the English countryside with a stop in Salisbury in southwest England.

Blake and Vanessa

P.S.  Here's one more photo.  It's us at the Edmonton Airport on July 1 when we left.  We'll post comparison photos as the trip progresses.