Wednesday, March 10, 2004
Meeting Courtney in Paris – 5 March
I went into Paris to meet up with Courtney Istre, who was my best friend during preschool and kindergarten in Minneapolis. We hadn’t seen each other since we were 6 years old, so this was crazy! Courtney’s studying in Florence, Italy for the semester, and we’ve been emailing each other to see if we could somehow meet. She came to Paris for the weekend, so I was able to take a train in on Friday to see her. We did the somewhat “clichéd” meeting under the Eiffel Tower. It’s not a small area, so we walked around looking for each other for a few minutes, but I immediately recognized Courtney when I saw her. Then we met up with 3 of her friends from Florence who were also in Paris, and we had fun walking around parts of the city together. We started by the Arc de Triomphe and continued down the Champs Elysées, stopping in Dior, Vuitton, and a few other fun stores – no purchases, unfortunately. Then we went to the Musée Rodin, the museum with all of Rodin’s sculptures, including The Thinker. We, of course, had to take a picture with The Thinker pose. The museum is actually in Rodin’s old mansion, which is beautiful and surrounded by gardens holding more of his statues. I enjoyed this museum because it wasn’t huge but had lots of interesting pieces and was set up very well. We went back to the area by the Sorbonne, where the girls’ hotel was located. Courtney and I walked along St. Germain, talking, eating crêpes, and shopping. Sadly, I had to leave them as they went to dinner in order to catch my train back to Rouen. Although it was only for a few hours, it was so fun to finally see Courtney and catch up! It’s crazy that after 15 years of not seeing each other, we met in Europe – and not a better city to do it in than Paris!
Dieppe, France – 6 March
Saturday afternoon I took a train with Kristin to the port town of Dieppe in northern Normandy. The round-trip train ticket was less than 10 euro, so we just went for a few hours. When we arrived we walked past the harbor full of tons of sailboats and went straight to the beach. The beach was full of rocks, no sand, just tons and tons of rocks. It was difficult to walk on, but we walked out to the water’s edge. It was so beautiful – I had to call my parents to tell them I was standing on the edge of the English Channel! Further down the beach there were huge cliffs overlooking the water; at the top of one is an old chateau but we weren’t able to go in it. We walked back through the town and stopped at a restaurant on the harbor for fresh mussels - so good! Maybe I’ll go back sometime later in the semester when it’s warmer to see what the beach is like then.
We took the short train back to Rouen Saturday night and saw Return to Cold Mountain at the theatre downtown – sad but very good.
I went into Paris to meet up with Courtney Istre, who was my best friend during preschool and kindergarten in Minneapolis. We hadn’t seen each other since we were 6 years old, so this was crazy! Courtney’s studying in Florence, Italy for the semester, and we’ve been emailing each other to see if we could somehow meet. She came to Paris for the weekend, so I was able to take a train in on Friday to see her. We did the somewhat “clichéd” meeting under the Eiffel Tower. It’s not a small area, so we walked around looking for each other for a few minutes, but I immediately recognized Courtney when I saw her. Then we met up with 3 of her friends from Florence who were also in Paris, and we had fun walking around parts of the city together. We started by the Arc de Triomphe and continued down the Champs Elysées, stopping in Dior, Vuitton, and a few other fun stores – no purchases, unfortunately. Then we went to the Musée Rodin, the museum with all of Rodin’s sculptures, including The Thinker. We, of course, had to take a picture with The Thinker pose. The museum is actually in Rodin’s old mansion, which is beautiful and surrounded by gardens holding more of his statues. I enjoyed this museum because it wasn’t huge but had lots of interesting pieces and was set up very well. We went back to the area by the Sorbonne, where the girls’ hotel was located. Courtney and I walked along St. Germain, talking, eating crêpes, and shopping. Sadly, I had to leave them as they went to dinner in order to catch my train back to Rouen. Although it was only for a few hours, it was so fun to finally see Courtney and catch up! It’s crazy that after 15 years of not seeing each other, we met in Europe – and not a better city to do it in than Paris!
Dieppe, France – 6 March
Saturday afternoon I took a train with Kristin to the port town of Dieppe in northern Normandy. The round-trip train ticket was less than 10 euro, so we just went for a few hours. When we arrived we walked past the harbor full of tons of sailboats and went straight to the beach. The beach was full of rocks, no sand, just tons and tons of rocks. It was difficult to walk on, but we walked out to the water’s edge. It was so beautiful – I had to call my parents to tell them I was standing on the edge of the English Channel! Further down the beach there were huge cliffs overlooking the water; at the top of one is an old chateau but we weren’t able to go in it. We walked back through the town and stopped at a restaurant on the harbor for fresh mussels - so good! Maybe I’ll go back sometime later in the semester when it’s warmer to see what the beach is like then.
We took the short train back to Rouen Saturday night and saw Return to Cold Mountain at the theatre downtown – sad but very good.
Mid-Term Break Trip through the UK and Ireland
Our school’s midterm holidays were the week of February 23-27th, so Kristin, Melissa, and I took a 9-day trip through Scotland, England, Wales, and Ireland; the itinerary of the trip follows: Paris → Glasgow - St. Andrews - Edinburgh (Scotland) → York - Liverpool - Birmingham (England) → Tintern - Fishguard (Wales) → Wexford - Dublin (Ireland). We were in each country for about 3 days and tried to follow the tentative schedule that we made up before leaving; I loved each place and could have spent at least a week in each, but I’m glad we were able to fit in all that we did in this amount of time.
We left Rouen on Friday, the 20th, which was also Melissa’s 21st birthday! The night before we went out to dinner and to a club with a large group to celebrate, and we were all feeling a little bit rough the next day. It wasn’t the best way to start a 9-day trip, but a 21st birthday in France is something to be celebrated!
SCOTLAND
We found a cheap flight from Beauvais, a suburb of Paris, to Glasgow, Scotland. However, trying to get to this obscure town was difficult, as it involved a train, bus, and taxi – in the end, it’s probably not worth the cheap airfare to use this tiny airport. Our flight was delayed a couple of hours, so we broke out the beer we had left from Mel’s birthday.
Glasgow. We didn’t arrive in Scotland until after midnight and unfortunately had no reservations for the night. We luckily found the nicest cab driver who drove us from the airport into the city and then took us to at least 5 different hostels and hotels, negotiating with places to let us stay; there was some sort of conference in town that weekend, and we had trouble finding any affordable rooms. We finally found a hotel where we could split a triple for 60 pounds, which was more than we wanted to spend but really the only option. The taxi driver even stopped a couple of policemen to see if we could spend the night in the station, but apparently that’s not allowed! But it all worked out - a bit of a rough start, but that’s our fault for not planning ahead.
Saturday morning and afternoon we walked around Glasgow, shopped in some funky stores, and saw the Glasgow Cathedral and a huge cemetery. While we were at the Glasgow Cathedral, we saw a traditional Scottish wedding party, and all the men were wearing kilts with their tux shirts. The Necropolis Cemetery is a huge, rundown graveyard, terraced and winding around several hills behind the cathedral. We walked through it and ran into several interesting people, all hanging out and drinking/smoking throughout the cemetery; there were lots of cool gravesites, but unfortunately the area has turned into a gathering spot for the “gothic” kids in the city. It was bizarre but very interesting to see at the same time.
St. Andrew’s. In the afternoon we took a bus to St. Andrew’s, a small university town on the east coast of Scotland (Prince William goes to St. Andrew’s University, and I must admit that this is the initial reason that attracted us to the city). We checked into the hostel, which we were sharing with a troop of 10-year-old Boy Scouts, so that was great! In our dorm room I met two girls from Clemson University in South Carolina, one of whom is from Maryville, TN – small world, once again. Saturday night we went to a pub in town and from there decided to go to a bar known as a student hangout (i.e. – rumored to be frequented by Prince William!). We asked the bartender directions to this bar, and his response was “You’re fitting perfectly into the typical American’s visit to St. Andrew’s.” So apparently lots of girls our age come here looking for him! We went to this next bar and met tons of university students, including the school’s rugby team! The guys were really fun and invited us to their rugby match (“Old Boys vs. New Boys”) the next day. Sunday morning we walked to the beach – unbelievable! We went through the ruins of the old St. Andrew’s Cathedral, and right beyond that was the coast … tall cliffs overlooking blue water – gorgeous scenery and so fun to see. We went to the famous golf course before leaving the town; I don’t know much about golf, but it was an impressive course. So although we didn’t have any “royal” sightings, the day trip to St. Andrew’s was totally worthwhile.
Edinburgh. We took a bus to catch a train to Edinburgh, and I enjoyed the scenery as we drove through several small Scottish towns. The train ride to Edinburgh was awesome because for part of the time the track was basically right on the coast.
We arrived in Edinburgh and easily checked into a hostel on the Royal Mile, a street known for its variety of pubs and nightlife. The area was perfect for us because it seemed to cater to young backpackers, and we met tons of friendly locals and fellow travelers.
Sunday night we started at an Irish pub called Finnigan’s Wake, where I tried my first glass of Scottish whiskey. After a Scotsman standing next to us at the bar heard us say we hadn’t tried whiskey, he immediately ordered each of a glass of his favorite – not bad at all! We ended up talking to the bartender there, who offered to take us to get some food when he got off. Chris, the bartender, took us to a small shop where I had the best, most loaded baked potato ever! After eating Chris introduced us to the game of Pub Golf, where you go on a pub crawl with a group of people, order a round of drinks at each, and try to down each drink in less than 3 tries to stay at par. Kristin and Chris ended under par, I was at par, and I think Melissa had to drop out half way through. We went back to the hostel for an unrestful night’s sleep due to two heavily snoring Australian guys in our room … not fun. I could have easily spent several more days in Edinburgh, due to the fun people and atmosphere.
Monday morning we packed up and went to pick up our rental car, which we had reserved a few days earlier online. Although we had been confirmed online, I was still pretty hesitant about the company actually renting a car to three foreign 20 and 21 year olds. However, we had no problems picking it up, except for the fact that they had no more compact-sized cars; it worked out nicely, though, because they gave us a bigger car for the same price. So after nervously signing over a 600 pound insurance deposit to the parents’ credit card, we were handed the keys to a silver, 4-day Skoda “Fabia.” Our nickname for the car for the rest of the week was, naturally, Fabio – how perfect! Melissa was the only one authorized on the agreement to drive, and she got used to the driving (left side of the road, left-handed shifting, etc.) very easily.
We went to the Edinburgh Castle, a huge fortress overlooking the city, but didn’t have time to tour it. Instead we went to the Scotch Whisky Historic Centre for a tour and tasting. It started off with tasting a blended Scotch whisky and ended with a ride in little moving “barrel carts” through the exhibit. The audio in our cart stopped working halfway through the tour, so we were compensated with an additional, complementary tasting – this time a single malt, which was a little harder to drink. We also got free glasses from the tour.
ENGLAND
York. We started the drive from Scotland to York, England in the afternoon, and this was definitely one of the coolest things I’ve done. I really don’t even know how to describe the landscape that we drove through – rolling, green hills dotted with tons of sheep and small farmhouses and ruins in the distance. I tried to take pictures but know they won’t do the landscape justice at all. The drive went smoothly in the beginning, as we were on fairly large highways in Scotland. We stopped and took a picture on the border of England and Scotland, which was cool. I was disappointed to leave Scotland because the country had left such a good impression on me. I realize I didn’t get to see other regions, but I definitely plan to spend more time in the rest of the country in the future. Then we got into the English countryside on very small roads; at times we didn’t see another car for over an hour. We were looking for Hadrian’s Wall, which is an old wall built by the Romans which spans 75 miles across England. We got a little bit lost, ended up circling several small villages for an hour or two, and then finally saw a sign and resting area to stop to visit Hadrian’s Wall. We got out and walked past lots of sheep to a clearing but saw no signs whatsoever of an ancient wall; it was getting dark, and we decided to give up our search. We later found out that the wall doesn’t still physically exist in all areas, so we spent 3 hours looking for a dirt path that used to be a wall – a little frustrating, but I enjoyed the landscape so much that I didn’t mind at all. We stopped for dinner in a small town and then finally arrived in York, where we stayed in a hostel located in an 18th century mansion. We actually ran into a couple other students from our school in France staying at the same hostel. At the small bar in the hostel basement I saw a sticker on the wall from the Irish Lion, a restaurant/bar in Bloomington, which I thought was funny.
Tuesday we went to the Yorvik Viking Center, which is a museum located on the archaeological dig site of an authentic Viking city. The center had lots of exhibits and a ride through a replication of the Viking city. The information was interesting, but for me the highlight was probably taking a picture of Melissa, Kristin, and myself dressed in Viking costumes (I should send that one out to everyone – quite entertaining). We drove past Clifford’s Tower, a sight of several infamous executions in the past. We also visited York Minster, a huge gothic cathedral that was beautiful. Unfortunately, it rained for most of our time in York, so we probably didn’t get to appreciate a lot of what the city has to offer, but from what I can tell it seems like a great city with a variety of attractions.
Liverpool. It took us about 2.5 hours to drive to Liverpool, and the trip went quickly because we were on highway roads the whole time. As we arrived in Liverpool, my first impression was that it was a large, industrial city, very different from what we had seen up to that point in the trip. We checked into our hostel, where there was a huge board of famous Beatles landmarks in the area. So we went to the Philharmonic Bar, which was supposedly one of Lennon’s favorites; there we met a man from Liverpool who felt it was necessary to give us an hour long history lesson on the Liverpool – US connection … informative but a little boring. Then Melissa decided to go to sleep because she felt sick, so Kristin and I had to go move the car from the parking garage to the lot at the hostel. Up until this point, Melissa had done all the driving, and I was a little nervous about trying it for the first time – but it was only a 10 minute drive through the city, so I figured it couldn’t be that bad. The actual driving went smoothly, but we had a little trouble backing the car out of the garage initially. Neither Kristin nor I could shift the gears into reverse, and after about ten minutes of trying, she got out and pushed the car back out of the spot while it was in neutral. Good thing it was a tiny car, but it still would have been difficult. I ended up describing our problem to the parking attendant on the way out, and he started laughing and said “Wish I could’ve had a show of that one, love.” (by the way, the Liverpoolian accent is one of my faves!) So I owe Kristin for that one!
Wednesday morning we tried to fit in as many Beatles sights as 3 hours would allow. We walked to the Cavern Quarter and saw the Cavern Club and The Grapes Bar, which are both original clubs that they performed in. We also went through the Beatles Story, a museum with Beatles memorabilia and exhibits. We really wanted to take a private car tour given by a Beatles fan/historian that is supposed to be great, but we didn’t have time.
Birmingham. We drove to Birmingham in order to go to Cadbury World, which has tons of interactive exhibits and a factory tour of the chocolate company. I’m not a huge chocolate lover, but we got enough samples to last for a while. It was fun but a little more kid-oriented.
St. Briavel’s. We began the several hour drive to Wales after leaving Cadbury World. We got to Wales around sunset and drove through the small, cute town of Tintern. We actually passed back into England to get to St. Briavel’s, a tiny village that we had selected because our guidebook described a castle (used to be King John’s hunting lodge) that had been turned into a hostel there! We drove on dirt roads up a mountain for about 20 minutes in order to get to the castle hostel. When we got there no one was there and we couldn’t get in, so we went to a little inn/bar/restaurant in the town and explained our problem to them. Since the town was so small, they all knew the hostel owner and where he lived, so they told us to walk over to his apartment. He wasn’t there either, so we went back to the hostel and found an open door. We walked in, but there still wasn’t anyone there, so we explored the whole place. It was awesome, with all of the top rooms turned into small dorms with several bunk beds each, a huge lounge with the original fireplace still in it, and even a prison room in one of the turrets and a dungeon in the basement. Basically none of the castle had been changed; they just added beds and chairs when needed. Unfortunately, the owner never returned, so we ate at the town’s inn and met some friendly locals, who enjoyed explaining the merits of rugby and details of the English/Welsh rivalry to us. We had an enjoyable dinner there (English potatoes, a pear/walnut tart, and a pint of a “Real Ale” – whatever that means), then returned to check on the status of the hostel (still empty at 11pm), and decided to drive back to Wales to get a hotel.
WALES
Tintern. The town of Tintern was at the bottom of the mountain below St. Briavel’s, and after stopping at a couple of B&B’s that were full, we found a hotel that was willing to give us a room for the night. In the morning we walked through Tintern Abbey, the roofless ruins of a 14th century Cisterican abbey. It was beautiful, particularly with the hills and Wye River in the background. Right before leaving to drive the car to Pembroke, Wales to return it and then catch our ferry, we found out that Irish Ferries workers were on strike and that our scheduled ferry was cancelled. They told us we could catch one on a different line in a town further into Wales, but we didn’t make it in time. Towards the end of our drive to Pembroke, it started sleeting and snowing, so it was the perfect time to turn in the car! Renting the car was probably one of the best things we did because driving through the countries ourselves, rather than taking public transportation, allowed us to stop wherever we wanted and see many more of the local sights. I think it probably improved our experience a lot. And somehow we even did it with no accidents or major problems. However, we did learn (not in time) that there are speed cams on the highway that take pictures of cars and issue speeding tickets via tracing the plates. We’re keeping our fingers crossed that we won’t be receiving any tickets in the mail or on our credit card anytime soon!
Fishguard. After returning the car, we took a bus to Fishguard, where we were supposed to catch a different ferry to Ireland. We didn’t make it to the dock in time, so we had to wait around until Friday afternoon for the next ferry. Fishguard was a tiny, seaside town in Wales with only one hostel. This small “backpacker’s lodge” was definitely the best place we stayed during the whole trip. It was just a small house in town run by a Welsh guy and an Australian girl, who were both super friendly the whole time. There wasn’t much to see in the town besides the beaches, and since there was a random snowstorm for the day we were there, we stayed inside the hostel chatting with them, watching tv, and drinking coffee. Since it was so comfortable, we were a little sad to leave for the ferry the next day!
IRELAND
The trip on the ferry from Wales to Ireland was about 3.5 hours long. The ferry was a lot bigger and nicer than I had imagined, as it was multilevel with a food court, bar & entertainment area, cabins, shops, a sundeck (empty since it was still snowing), and lots of room in general. Sailing through the Irish Sea was pretty rough, and the ride affected me more than I thought it would. Standing up and walking without stumbling was almost impossible, and we were all a little dizzy the whole time. Needless to say, I won’t be begging the parents for a cruise vacation anymore.
Rosslare and Wexford. We got to Rosslare, Ireland in the evening and took a bus to Wexford. In Wexford we went to a couple of pubs and then went to sleep in our hostel, which was definitely more rundown and dirty compared to the others; but we did have a room to ourselves, which was good. Saturday morning we were having coffee with the guy working at the hostel, and from him we found out some interesting things about the area. The Kennedy family’s Irish estate was only a few miles away, and the beaches of Wexford were used to film the D-Day landing scenes in Saving Private Ryan. It would have been great to see those beaches, but we had to catch a bus to Dublin and didn’t have time.
Dublin. The 3 hour bus ride to Dublin was great because the landscape was beautiful; part of the trip was along the coast, and we’d look to the east to see water and the west to see mountains – it was a great way to see Irish land and towns.
Once we arrived in Dublin, we had trouble finding a hostel because it was Saturday night and everyplace was booked. We had booked hostels calling around trying to find us an open one, and apparently we got the last 3 beds in the city for the night. Our hostel had a good location, right across the river from the Temple Bar area, where we planned to spend the rest of the evening. The Temple Bar area is very trendy with blocks and blocks of pubs and restaurants – very fun! We went to several pubs throughout the night and tried several ales, Jameson whiskey, and Bailey’s. A couple of the pubs we went to had live Irish music, which was so fun. After a long and crazy night, we returned to the hostel. We were woken up early in the morning by the group of 3 Dutch guys in our room who had just gotten back from their night out – another restless night’s sleep.
Sunday we walked to the Guinness Brewery experience, which is a museum/exhibit housed in the old St. James’s Gate Brewery. I learned much more about Guinness than I’ll ever need to know, but the highlight was the free pint at the end of the tour. This was my first taste of the stuff, as I’ve always been turned off by the heaviness and darkness of it in the past. I was actually able to drink the whole pint, and I didn’t hate it! There’s a huge tradition with Guinness in Ireland, and now I think I have a better understanding of it. Before leaving for the airport we ate Irish stew and soda bread at a traditional Irish restaurant and heard more live music. I’m disappointed that we didn’t get to see more of Dublin and Ireland in general, but from my short time there, I’m pretty sure that the stereotypes about the fun people and crazy drinking are true!
BACK TO FRANCE
Our return trip was rather uneventful, until we got to France, at least. We caught a bus from Beauvais to Paris and tried to make it to the train station in order to catch the last train back to Rouen. We were running as fast as our bags would allow, trying to find the closet Metro entrance from where the bus dropped us off. Melissa had quite a nasty fall at one point – her bags went everywhere, and she busted – luckily, nothing serious – but a good laugh later. Sadly, we got to the train station a couple minutes after the train left. Taking a taxi was the only other option but way too expensive, so we had to spend the night in Paris. Luckily, Melissa knows a guy in Paris who has an apartment, so we were able to crash there for the night. We woke up early to catch the 6:45am train home, but when we arrived the schedule said the next train wasn’t until 7:30. So we figured we had enough time to grab breakfast. We got back to the station and realized we had missed another train; that’s when we figured out our watches were still an hour ahead on UK time! So we actually missed 3 trains that morning that would have gotten us to Rouen. I finally got back to my dorm around 10am, just in time for my 10:45 Monday morning class. What a trip!
All in all, the 9 days were unbelievably awesome. It was one of those trips where I would think something was amazing, only to be surpassed by the next thing we did or saw – definitely a good feeling to have during a trip! My favorite country was Scotland (based on the people, land, and diversity of cities), and I would really like to go back for a longer period of time. However, I could easily spend weeks in each of the places we visited. In general, I think the best thing about it all was meeting different people, locals as well as other travelers, in each city. I was pleasantly surprised by the friendliness we found everywhere.
Currently, I’m trying to get used to life in France once again. Surprisingly, it was somewhat comforting to hear French after speaking English straight for 9 days, which I take as a good sign. Lately I’ve been working on lots of group projects and have several presentations in the upcoming weeks. I also have several visits from friends and family to look forward to in the future, as well as a week in Italy at the end of March!
Our school’s midterm holidays were the week of February 23-27th, so Kristin, Melissa, and I took a 9-day trip through Scotland, England, Wales, and Ireland; the itinerary of the trip follows: Paris → Glasgow - St. Andrews - Edinburgh (Scotland) → York - Liverpool - Birmingham (England) → Tintern - Fishguard (Wales) → Wexford - Dublin (Ireland). We were in each country for about 3 days and tried to follow the tentative schedule that we made up before leaving; I loved each place and could have spent at least a week in each, but I’m glad we were able to fit in all that we did in this amount of time.
We left Rouen on Friday, the 20th, which was also Melissa’s 21st birthday! The night before we went out to dinner and to a club with a large group to celebrate, and we were all feeling a little bit rough the next day. It wasn’t the best way to start a 9-day trip, but a 21st birthday in France is something to be celebrated!
SCOTLAND
We found a cheap flight from Beauvais, a suburb of Paris, to Glasgow, Scotland. However, trying to get to this obscure town was difficult, as it involved a train, bus, and taxi – in the end, it’s probably not worth the cheap airfare to use this tiny airport. Our flight was delayed a couple of hours, so we broke out the beer we had left from Mel’s birthday.
Glasgow. We didn’t arrive in Scotland until after midnight and unfortunately had no reservations for the night. We luckily found the nicest cab driver who drove us from the airport into the city and then took us to at least 5 different hostels and hotels, negotiating with places to let us stay; there was some sort of conference in town that weekend, and we had trouble finding any affordable rooms. We finally found a hotel where we could split a triple for 60 pounds, which was more than we wanted to spend but really the only option. The taxi driver even stopped a couple of policemen to see if we could spend the night in the station, but apparently that’s not allowed! But it all worked out - a bit of a rough start, but that’s our fault for not planning ahead.
Saturday morning and afternoon we walked around Glasgow, shopped in some funky stores, and saw the Glasgow Cathedral and a huge cemetery. While we were at the Glasgow Cathedral, we saw a traditional Scottish wedding party, and all the men were wearing kilts with their tux shirts. The Necropolis Cemetery is a huge, rundown graveyard, terraced and winding around several hills behind the cathedral. We walked through it and ran into several interesting people, all hanging out and drinking/smoking throughout the cemetery; there were lots of cool gravesites, but unfortunately the area has turned into a gathering spot for the “gothic” kids in the city. It was bizarre but very interesting to see at the same time.
St. Andrew’s. In the afternoon we took a bus to St. Andrew’s, a small university town on the east coast of Scotland (Prince William goes to St. Andrew’s University, and I must admit that this is the initial reason that attracted us to the city). We checked into the hostel, which we were sharing with a troop of 10-year-old Boy Scouts, so that was great! In our dorm room I met two girls from Clemson University in South Carolina, one of whom is from Maryville, TN – small world, once again. Saturday night we went to a pub in town and from there decided to go to a bar known as a student hangout (i.e. – rumored to be frequented by Prince William!). We asked the bartender directions to this bar, and his response was “You’re fitting perfectly into the typical American’s visit to St. Andrew’s.” So apparently lots of girls our age come here looking for him! We went to this next bar and met tons of university students, including the school’s rugby team! The guys were really fun and invited us to their rugby match (“Old Boys vs. New Boys”) the next day. Sunday morning we walked to the beach – unbelievable! We went through the ruins of the old St. Andrew’s Cathedral, and right beyond that was the coast … tall cliffs overlooking blue water – gorgeous scenery and so fun to see. We went to the famous golf course before leaving the town; I don’t know much about golf, but it was an impressive course. So although we didn’t have any “royal” sightings, the day trip to St. Andrew’s was totally worthwhile.
Edinburgh. We took a bus to catch a train to Edinburgh, and I enjoyed the scenery as we drove through several small Scottish towns. The train ride to Edinburgh was awesome because for part of the time the track was basically right on the coast.
We arrived in Edinburgh and easily checked into a hostel on the Royal Mile, a street known for its variety of pubs and nightlife. The area was perfect for us because it seemed to cater to young backpackers, and we met tons of friendly locals and fellow travelers.
Sunday night we started at an Irish pub called Finnigan’s Wake, where I tried my first glass of Scottish whiskey. After a Scotsman standing next to us at the bar heard us say we hadn’t tried whiskey, he immediately ordered each of a glass of his favorite – not bad at all! We ended up talking to the bartender there, who offered to take us to get some food when he got off. Chris, the bartender, took us to a small shop where I had the best, most loaded baked potato ever! After eating Chris introduced us to the game of Pub Golf, where you go on a pub crawl with a group of people, order a round of drinks at each, and try to down each drink in less than 3 tries to stay at par. Kristin and Chris ended under par, I was at par, and I think Melissa had to drop out half way through. We went back to the hostel for an unrestful night’s sleep due to two heavily snoring Australian guys in our room … not fun. I could have easily spent several more days in Edinburgh, due to the fun people and atmosphere.
Monday morning we packed up and went to pick up our rental car, which we had reserved a few days earlier online. Although we had been confirmed online, I was still pretty hesitant about the company actually renting a car to three foreign 20 and 21 year olds. However, we had no problems picking it up, except for the fact that they had no more compact-sized cars; it worked out nicely, though, because they gave us a bigger car for the same price. So after nervously signing over a 600 pound insurance deposit to the parents’ credit card, we were handed the keys to a silver, 4-day Skoda “Fabia.” Our nickname for the car for the rest of the week was, naturally, Fabio – how perfect! Melissa was the only one authorized on the agreement to drive, and she got used to the driving (left side of the road, left-handed shifting, etc.) very easily.
We went to the Edinburgh Castle, a huge fortress overlooking the city, but didn’t have time to tour it. Instead we went to the Scotch Whisky Historic Centre for a tour and tasting. It started off with tasting a blended Scotch whisky and ended with a ride in little moving “barrel carts” through the exhibit. The audio in our cart stopped working halfway through the tour, so we were compensated with an additional, complementary tasting – this time a single malt, which was a little harder to drink. We also got free glasses from the tour.
ENGLAND
York. We started the drive from Scotland to York, England in the afternoon, and this was definitely one of the coolest things I’ve done. I really don’t even know how to describe the landscape that we drove through – rolling, green hills dotted with tons of sheep and small farmhouses and ruins in the distance. I tried to take pictures but know they won’t do the landscape justice at all. The drive went smoothly in the beginning, as we were on fairly large highways in Scotland. We stopped and took a picture on the border of England and Scotland, which was cool. I was disappointed to leave Scotland because the country had left such a good impression on me. I realize I didn’t get to see other regions, but I definitely plan to spend more time in the rest of the country in the future. Then we got into the English countryside on very small roads; at times we didn’t see another car for over an hour. We were looking for Hadrian’s Wall, which is an old wall built by the Romans which spans 75 miles across England. We got a little bit lost, ended up circling several small villages for an hour or two, and then finally saw a sign and resting area to stop to visit Hadrian’s Wall. We got out and walked past lots of sheep to a clearing but saw no signs whatsoever of an ancient wall; it was getting dark, and we decided to give up our search. We later found out that the wall doesn’t still physically exist in all areas, so we spent 3 hours looking for a dirt path that used to be a wall – a little frustrating, but I enjoyed the landscape so much that I didn’t mind at all. We stopped for dinner in a small town and then finally arrived in York, where we stayed in a hostel located in an 18th century mansion. We actually ran into a couple other students from our school in France staying at the same hostel. At the small bar in the hostel basement I saw a sticker on the wall from the Irish Lion, a restaurant/bar in Bloomington, which I thought was funny.
Tuesday we went to the Yorvik Viking Center, which is a museum located on the archaeological dig site of an authentic Viking city. The center had lots of exhibits and a ride through a replication of the Viking city. The information was interesting, but for me the highlight was probably taking a picture of Melissa, Kristin, and myself dressed in Viking costumes (I should send that one out to everyone – quite entertaining). We drove past Clifford’s Tower, a sight of several infamous executions in the past. We also visited York Minster, a huge gothic cathedral that was beautiful. Unfortunately, it rained for most of our time in York, so we probably didn’t get to appreciate a lot of what the city has to offer, but from what I can tell it seems like a great city with a variety of attractions.
Liverpool. It took us about 2.5 hours to drive to Liverpool, and the trip went quickly because we were on highway roads the whole time. As we arrived in Liverpool, my first impression was that it was a large, industrial city, very different from what we had seen up to that point in the trip. We checked into our hostel, where there was a huge board of famous Beatles landmarks in the area. So we went to the Philharmonic Bar, which was supposedly one of Lennon’s favorites; there we met a man from Liverpool who felt it was necessary to give us an hour long history lesson on the Liverpool – US connection … informative but a little boring. Then Melissa decided to go to sleep because she felt sick, so Kristin and I had to go move the car from the parking garage to the lot at the hostel. Up until this point, Melissa had done all the driving, and I was a little nervous about trying it for the first time – but it was only a 10 minute drive through the city, so I figured it couldn’t be that bad. The actual driving went smoothly, but we had a little trouble backing the car out of the garage initially. Neither Kristin nor I could shift the gears into reverse, and after about ten minutes of trying, she got out and pushed the car back out of the spot while it was in neutral. Good thing it was a tiny car, but it still would have been difficult. I ended up describing our problem to the parking attendant on the way out, and he started laughing and said “Wish I could’ve had a show of that one, love.” (by the way, the Liverpoolian accent is one of my faves!) So I owe Kristin for that one!
Wednesday morning we tried to fit in as many Beatles sights as 3 hours would allow. We walked to the Cavern Quarter and saw the Cavern Club and The Grapes Bar, which are both original clubs that they performed in. We also went through the Beatles Story, a museum with Beatles memorabilia and exhibits. We really wanted to take a private car tour given by a Beatles fan/historian that is supposed to be great, but we didn’t have time.
Birmingham. We drove to Birmingham in order to go to Cadbury World, which has tons of interactive exhibits and a factory tour of the chocolate company. I’m not a huge chocolate lover, but we got enough samples to last for a while. It was fun but a little more kid-oriented.
St. Briavel’s. We began the several hour drive to Wales after leaving Cadbury World. We got to Wales around sunset and drove through the small, cute town of Tintern. We actually passed back into England to get to St. Briavel’s, a tiny village that we had selected because our guidebook described a castle (used to be King John’s hunting lodge) that had been turned into a hostel there! We drove on dirt roads up a mountain for about 20 minutes in order to get to the castle hostel. When we got there no one was there and we couldn’t get in, so we went to a little inn/bar/restaurant in the town and explained our problem to them. Since the town was so small, they all knew the hostel owner and where he lived, so they told us to walk over to his apartment. He wasn’t there either, so we went back to the hostel and found an open door. We walked in, but there still wasn’t anyone there, so we explored the whole place. It was awesome, with all of the top rooms turned into small dorms with several bunk beds each, a huge lounge with the original fireplace still in it, and even a prison room in one of the turrets and a dungeon in the basement. Basically none of the castle had been changed; they just added beds and chairs when needed. Unfortunately, the owner never returned, so we ate at the town’s inn and met some friendly locals, who enjoyed explaining the merits of rugby and details of the English/Welsh rivalry to us. We had an enjoyable dinner there (English potatoes, a pear/walnut tart, and a pint of a “Real Ale” – whatever that means), then returned to check on the status of the hostel (still empty at 11pm), and decided to drive back to Wales to get a hotel.
WALES
Tintern. The town of Tintern was at the bottom of the mountain below St. Briavel’s, and after stopping at a couple of B&B’s that were full, we found a hotel that was willing to give us a room for the night. In the morning we walked through Tintern Abbey, the roofless ruins of a 14th century Cisterican abbey. It was beautiful, particularly with the hills and Wye River in the background. Right before leaving to drive the car to Pembroke, Wales to return it and then catch our ferry, we found out that Irish Ferries workers were on strike and that our scheduled ferry was cancelled. They told us we could catch one on a different line in a town further into Wales, but we didn’t make it in time. Towards the end of our drive to Pembroke, it started sleeting and snowing, so it was the perfect time to turn in the car! Renting the car was probably one of the best things we did because driving through the countries ourselves, rather than taking public transportation, allowed us to stop wherever we wanted and see many more of the local sights. I think it probably improved our experience a lot. And somehow we even did it with no accidents or major problems. However, we did learn (not in time) that there are speed cams on the highway that take pictures of cars and issue speeding tickets via tracing the plates. We’re keeping our fingers crossed that we won’t be receiving any tickets in the mail or on our credit card anytime soon!
Fishguard. After returning the car, we took a bus to Fishguard, where we were supposed to catch a different ferry to Ireland. We didn’t make it to the dock in time, so we had to wait around until Friday afternoon for the next ferry. Fishguard was a tiny, seaside town in Wales with only one hostel. This small “backpacker’s lodge” was definitely the best place we stayed during the whole trip. It was just a small house in town run by a Welsh guy and an Australian girl, who were both super friendly the whole time. There wasn’t much to see in the town besides the beaches, and since there was a random snowstorm for the day we were there, we stayed inside the hostel chatting with them, watching tv, and drinking coffee. Since it was so comfortable, we were a little sad to leave for the ferry the next day!
IRELAND
The trip on the ferry from Wales to Ireland was about 3.5 hours long. The ferry was a lot bigger and nicer than I had imagined, as it was multilevel with a food court, bar & entertainment area, cabins, shops, a sundeck (empty since it was still snowing), and lots of room in general. Sailing through the Irish Sea was pretty rough, and the ride affected me more than I thought it would. Standing up and walking without stumbling was almost impossible, and we were all a little dizzy the whole time. Needless to say, I won’t be begging the parents for a cruise vacation anymore.
Rosslare and Wexford. We got to Rosslare, Ireland in the evening and took a bus to Wexford. In Wexford we went to a couple of pubs and then went to sleep in our hostel, which was definitely more rundown and dirty compared to the others; but we did have a room to ourselves, which was good. Saturday morning we were having coffee with the guy working at the hostel, and from him we found out some interesting things about the area. The Kennedy family’s Irish estate was only a few miles away, and the beaches of Wexford were used to film the D-Day landing scenes in Saving Private Ryan. It would have been great to see those beaches, but we had to catch a bus to Dublin and didn’t have time.
Dublin. The 3 hour bus ride to Dublin was great because the landscape was beautiful; part of the trip was along the coast, and we’d look to the east to see water and the west to see mountains – it was a great way to see Irish land and towns.
Once we arrived in Dublin, we had trouble finding a hostel because it was Saturday night and everyplace was booked. We had booked hostels calling around trying to find us an open one, and apparently we got the last 3 beds in the city for the night. Our hostel had a good location, right across the river from the Temple Bar area, where we planned to spend the rest of the evening. The Temple Bar area is very trendy with blocks and blocks of pubs and restaurants – very fun! We went to several pubs throughout the night and tried several ales, Jameson whiskey, and Bailey’s. A couple of the pubs we went to had live Irish music, which was so fun. After a long and crazy night, we returned to the hostel. We were woken up early in the morning by the group of 3 Dutch guys in our room who had just gotten back from their night out – another restless night’s sleep.
Sunday we walked to the Guinness Brewery experience, which is a museum/exhibit housed in the old St. James’s Gate Brewery. I learned much more about Guinness than I’ll ever need to know, but the highlight was the free pint at the end of the tour. This was my first taste of the stuff, as I’ve always been turned off by the heaviness and darkness of it in the past. I was actually able to drink the whole pint, and I didn’t hate it! There’s a huge tradition with Guinness in Ireland, and now I think I have a better understanding of it. Before leaving for the airport we ate Irish stew and soda bread at a traditional Irish restaurant and heard more live music. I’m disappointed that we didn’t get to see more of Dublin and Ireland in general, but from my short time there, I’m pretty sure that the stereotypes about the fun people and crazy drinking are true!
BACK TO FRANCE
Our return trip was rather uneventful, until we got to France, at least. We caught a bus from Beauvais to Paris and tried to make it to the train station in order to catch the last train back to Rouen. We were running as fast as our bags would allow, trying to find the closet Metro entrance from where the bus dropped us off. Melissa had quite a nasty fall at one point – her bags went everywhere, and she busted – luckily, nothing serious – but a good laugh later. Sadly, we got to the train station a couple minutes after the train left. Taking a taxi was the only other option but way too expensive, so we had to spend the night in Paris. Luckily, Melissa knows a guy in Paris who has an apartment, so we were able to crash there for the night. We woke up early to catch the 6:45am train home, but when we arrived the schedule said the next train wasn’t until 7:30. So we figured we had enough time to grab breakfast. We got back to the station and realized we had missed another train; that’s when we figured out our watches were still an hour ahead on UK time! So we actually missed 3 trains that morning that would have gotten us to Rouen. I finally got back to my dorm around 10am, just in time for my 10:45 Monday morning class. What a trip!
All in all, the 9 days were unbelievably awesome. It was one of those trips where I would think something was amazing, only to be surpassed by the next thing we did or saw – definitely a good feeling to have during a trip! My favorite country was Scotland (based on the people, land, and diversity of cities), and I would really like to go back for a longer period of time. However, I could easily spend weeks in each of the places we visited. In general, I think the best thing about it all was meeting different people, locals as well as other travelers, in each city. I was pleasantly surprised by the friendliness we found everywhere.
Currently, I’m trying to get used to life in France once again. Surprisingly, it was somewhat comforting to hear French after speaking English straight for 9 days, which I take as a good sign. Lately I’ve been working on lots of group projects and have several presentations in the upcoming weeks. I also have several visits from friends and family to look forward to in the future, as well as a week in Italy at the end of March!
Valentine’s Day in Bruges, Belgium
As several of my friends in the dorm have already been to Belgium this semester and returned with great stories, I have been looking forward to going for a while. As it seems to be a trend in our traveling, we waited until the last minute and decided to go for Valentine’s weekend. Kristin and I took a train early Saturday morning to Paris, then connected through Lille, France, and arrived in Bruges, Belgium in the early afternoon. Bruges is a small/medium, tourist-friendly city in northwest Belgium, known for its chocolate and lace. As we got off the train, we were a little nervous trying to read the signs in Flemish, the primary language there; however, we soon learned that just about everyone we talked to spoke very good English, French, Flemish, and often German. For once it was actually comforting to hear French! In my opinion, one of the most remarkable things about the city was how helpful and friendly everyone we interacted with was; we felt very welcome everywhere, and the fact that we were Americans made no difference, which is unlike some of our past experiences in different areas of France.
We left the train station to look for a hostel and luckily found one that was recommended in our travel book (Let’s Go books are awesome, by the way). The hostel, De Passage, had a nice restaurant/bar on the first floor and doors/rooms on the upper two levels. The owner Guido (yep that was his name) rented us two beds in one of the dorms for 12 euros, which is pretty cheap. We went up to our room, which had 3 sets of bunkbeds; since there were already some belongings from other people in there and it seemed safe, we left our bags there for the day. We left to explore Bruges, and I immediately loved it. The city is primarily made of narrow cobblestone streets with several large, open squares throughout – filled with horse carriages and bicycles – so cute. There is also a series of canals running through Bruges, giving it the nickname of “The Venice of the North.” It didn’t take us long to stop and buy fresh Belgian waffles on the street – so good! We, of course, also went to a chocolate store to try the famous chocolates; I’m not even a huge chocolate fan, and these were awesome! Next we walked to several tourist attractions, including the old belfry – 366 stairs to the top, but we didn’t venture all the way up. Throughout the day we had seen tons of horse-drawn carriages, so we decided to wait in the line for the ride, which was expensive but well worth it. Our driver took us all over the city and gave us some historic commentary as well. I can’t think of a much more “romantic” way to spend Valentine’s evening than a carriage ride through a Belgian city with my roommate! Haha.
Saturday night we went to a bar we had heard about from our friends that serves over 300 Belgian beers. The bar, true to its reputation, had a huge selection of beers, including a large list of fruit beers. Between the two of us, we tried several fruit varieties (raspberry, strawberry, apricot, peach, cherry – I think all but the banana flavor) as well as several blonds (Stella, Jupiler, and Himmel Biere, I think). Needless to say, the bar was really fun. We still hadn’t had dinner and couldn’t find a place that wasn’t full of couples, so we went back to the restaurant at our hostel, which was actually really busy, too, but they promised us a table in an hour. As we were at the bar having our free beer (since we were staying at the hostel), we met a group of American students who are studying in Amsterdam for the semester. The 11 of them are from a variety of schools (U Mass, Southern Cal, Tufts, Maryland) and were staying at the same hostel for the weekend. After dinner (I had something called fish stew – salmon, sol, mussels – very good) we went out with them to a few bars and clubs in the area; they were lots of fun, so we were lucky to have met them at the hostel. I actually made tentative plans to meet a couple of them in Amsterdam this week because the US National soccer team is playing the Netherlands on the 18th; however, the game is tomorrow, and I still haven’t figured out how to buy tickets, so it doesn’t look like that will happen – disappointing! And it turns out they know a couple IU students in Amsterdam, but I didn’t recognize their names.
When we returned to the hostel, the other 4 people in our room were already asleep, so we just went straight to bed. It was my first time in a hostel, and it was a little strange to wake up and not know who was sleeping on my bunk or in the bed next to me. However, after we all got up and started talking, we learned that 3 of the kids were from the University of Illinois and are studying in England – small world!!
Sunday we went to the Basilica of the Holy Blood, where there is a relic with Christ’s blood. Mass was being held at the time, so we were unable to tour the Basilica. Next door we toured the Het Stadhuis Van Brugge, the gothic town hall of Bruges, a very impressive building with lots of historical artifacts and artwork. We ended the afternoon with a 35 minute boat ride through the canals, which gave us an awesome view of the city (with a tour guide who translated in all 3 languages – Flemish, English, French). That was definitely one of the coolest things I’ve done thus far. Before leaving we stopped for lunch and one last Belgian beer; I had a huge pot of mussels, which are supposed to be great in Belgium – definitely a lot bigger than the mussels we can get at home. (Mom, Dad, and Alec – you would have loved them!)
Our short trip to Bruges was unbelievable, and although we spent a rather large amount on the train tickets (especially considering we were barely there for 24 hours), it was definitely worth it. I experienced a country completely new to me, stayed in my first hostel, and randomly met many fun people – can’t really ask for much more for such a last-minute trip.
My school’s mid-term holidays are next week, so Kristin, Melissa, and I are leaving on the 20th for a 9-day trip through parts of Scotland, England, and Ireland. We’re flying into Glasgow and out of Dublin, and we’re still working on our plans in between those two cities. We’ve chosen a couple other cities in each country to go to, but who knows what sort of schedule we’re really stick to. I’m not really sure what to expect but am very excited about the trip - tons of stories to follow, I hope!!
As several of my friends in the dorm have already been to Belgium this semester and returned with great stories, I have been looking forward to going for a while. As it seems to be a trend in our traveling, we waited until the last minute and decided to go for Valentine’s weekend. Kristin and I took a train early Saturday morning to Paris, then connected through Lille, France, and arrived in Bruges, Belgium in the early afternoon. Bruges is a small/medium, tourist-friendly city in northwest Belgium, known for its chocolate and lace. As we got off the train, we were a little nervous trying to read the signs in Flemish, the primary language there; however, we soon learned that just about everyone we talked to spoke very good English, French, Flemish, and often German. For once it was actually comforting to hear French! In my opinion, one of the most remarkable things about the city was how helpful and friendly everyone we interacted with was; we felt very welcome everywhere, and the fact that we were Americans made no difference, which is unlike some of our past experiences in different areas of France.
We left the train station to look for a hostel and luckily found one that was recommended in our travel book (Let’s Go books are awesome, by the way). The hostel, De Passage, had a nice restaurant/bar on the first floor and doors/rooms on the upper two levels. The owner Guido (yep that was his name) rented us two beds in one of the dorms for 12 euros, which is pretty cheap. We went up to our room, which had 3 sets of bunkbeds; since there were already some belongings from other people in there and it seemed safe, we left our bags there for the day. We left to explore Bruges, and I immediately loved it. The city is primarily made of narrow cobblestone streets with several large, open squares throughout – filled with horse carriages and bicycles – so cute. There is also a series of canals running through Bruges, giving it the nickname of “The Venice of the North.” It didn’t take us long to stop and buy fresh Belgian waffles on the street – so good! We, of course, also went to a chocolate store to try the famous chocolates; I’m not even a huge chocolate fan, and these were awesome! Next we walked to several tourist attractions, including the old belfry – 366 stairs to the top, but we didn’t venture all the way up. Throughout the day we had seen tons of horse-drawn carriages, so we decided to wait in the line for the ride, which was expensive but well worth it. Our driver took us all over the city and gave us some historic commentary as well. I can’t think of a much more “romantic” way to spend Valentine’s evening than a carriage ride through a Belgian city with my roommate! Haha.
Saturday night we went to a bar we had heard about from our friends that serves over 300 Belgian beers. The bar, true to its reputation, had a huge selection of beers, including a large list of fruit beers. Between the two of us, we tried several fruit varieties (raspberry, strawberry, apricot, peach, cherry – I think all but the banana flavor) as well as several blonds (Stella, Jupiler, and Himmel Biere, I think). Needless to say, the bar was really fun. We still hadn’t had dinner and couldn’t find a place that wasn’t full of couples, so we went back to the restaurant at our hostel, which was actually really busy, too, but they promised us a table in an hour. As we were at the bar having our free beer (since we were staying at the hostel), we met a group of American students who are studying in Amsterdam for the semester. The 11 of them are from a variety of schools (U Mass, Southern Cal, Tufts, Maryland) and were staying at the same hostel for the weekend. After dinner (I had something called fish stew – salmon, sol, mussels – very good) we went out with them to a few bars and clubs in the area; they were lots of fun, so we were lucky to have met them at the hostel. I actually made tentative plans to meet a couple of them in Amsterdam this week because the US National soccer team is playing the Netherlands on the 18th; however, the game is tomorrow, and I still haven’t figured out how to buy tickets, so it doesn’t look like that will happen – disappointing! And it turns out they know a couple IU students in Amsterdam, but I didn’t recognize their names.
When we returned to the hostel, the other 4 people in our room were already asleep, so we just went straight to bed. It was my first time in a hostel, and it was a little strange to wake up and not know who was sleeping on my bunk or in the bed next to me. However, after we all got up and started talking, we learned that 3 of the kids were from the University of Illinois and are studying in England – small world!!
Sunday we went to the Basilica of the Holy Blood, where there is a relic with Christ’s blood. Mass was being held at the time, so we were unable to tour the Basilica. Next door we toured the Het Stadhuis Van Brugge, the gothic town hall of Bruges, a very impressive building with lots of historical artifacts and artwork. We ended the afternoon with a 35 minute boat ride through the canals, which gave us an awesome view of the city (with a tour guide who translated in all 3 languages – Flemish, English, French). That was definitely one of the coolest things I’ve done thus far. Before leaving we stopped for lunch and one last Belgian beer; I had a huge pot of mussels, which are supposed to be great in Belgium – definitely a lot bigger than the mussels we can get at home. (Mom, Dad, and Alec – you would have loved them!)
Our short trip to Bruges was unbelievable, and although we spent a rather large amount on the train tickets (especially considering we were barely there for 24 hours), it was definitely worth it. I experienced a country completely new to me, stayed in my first hostel, and randomly met many fun people – can’t really ask for much more for such a last-minute trip.
My school’s mid-term holidays are next week, so Kristin, Melissa, and I are leaving on the 20th for a 9-day trip through parts of Scotland, England, and Ireland. We’re flying into Glasgow and out of Dublin, and we’re still working on our plans in between those two cities. We’ve chosen a couple other cities in each country to go to, but who knows what sort of schedule we’re really stick to. I’m not really sure what to expect but am very excited about the trip - tons of stories to follow, I hope!!
