The Tower of London

We had a full day today. Started out this morning with a panoramic overall view of London with our own personal tour guide. It was a good way to see a lot in a comfy car and then decide what we have time to see and do the rest of the time we are here. We started out in Hyde Park and drove by Buckingham Palace, Westminister Abbey, Houses of Parliament, Trafalgar Square, Picadilly, the US Embassy, many museums and statues of famous Brits, over the London Bridge, through an area where Harry Potter was filmed and on and on!! We stopped off and watched the Changing of the Horse Guard which was very impressive. Tomorrow we will go to Buckingham Palace to see the Changing of the Guard. After our 3 hour tour, we were dropped off at the Tower of London. We grabbed a bite to eat before heading into the Tower. We were able to get in free as guests of one of the Beefeaters there so we felt pretty special. This was arranged for us through our Brit / Texas friends!! We took an hour guided tour and then wandered around on our own. The most impressive thing for me was to view the Crown Jewels. Here all the crowns, orbs and scepters from the various royal ceremonies are on display and are really something spectatular! We saw Queen Victoria's diamond crown as well as the crown of the Queen Mother who died in 2002. We also saw the scaffolding site where enemies of the crown were beheaded and heard a lot of gruesome tales of traiters and killings. The Beefeaters loved telling those tales.

London Town

We arrived by the train today in London and have just returned to our rooms for the night. We got here around dinner time and walked over to the Kensington Palace area which was the residence of Princess Di. The palace is undergoing construction so we were unable to get close to it but the garden and park area was beautiful. Tomorrow we are meeting our tour guide early and taking a panoramic view tour of the city. I'm excited!

Here are a few pictures that I have taken along the way.

ENGLAND

England!
We arrived in Nottingham, England last evening. Nottingham is the home of Robin Hood and Sherwood Forest. It is sooo much different than the towns we saw in Ireland. Nottingham is a pretty big city. We walked around last night and found an old pub for dinner called Old Salutation. It was built in the 13th century! There were 2 Englishmen sitting beside us that we got into a discussion with. One of them was very opinionated about us Americans. They did not agree that we have the death penalty in the US. It turned into a heated discussion as we tried to explain how long it took to actually execute someone and how long we had to pay for them in prison if they were not executed. But there are not near the number of pubs here like there were in Ireland. We can probably go a few blocks before we find a pub instead of a few store fronts!

Today we walked over to the City Centre area and visited St. Mary's Church of England which is where the Sheriff of Nottingham captured Robin Hood. It was a beautiful historic church. After that, we took a tour of the Crime and Punishment Museum where we visited the jail that Robin Hood could have been locked up in. The tour took us through three centuries of crime, punishment and law. We visited a Victorian courtroom, an 1800 prison, the prisoner's exercise yard, a prison from 1833, and a woman's prison facility. In the courtroom, they took people from our tour group to re-enact a trial. Our Ashley played the judge!! There were costumed interpreters that really brought the whole experience to life, showing you exactly how the law has developed over the years. The entire approach is hands-on. In the courtroom, they took people from the tour group to re-enact a trial. Ashley played the judge! After lunch, we walked over to the oldest bar (1189) Trip to Old Jerusalem. Isn't that just hard to believe!!

Tomorrow we are meeting our friend, Margaret's parents and sister for lunch. Then we will be boarding the train for London. Hopefully, I will hav efree internet connection in the London hotel - I am paying for an hour here in Nottingham.

Cheers!

I CAN

The Winner's Creed

If you think you are beaten, you are;
If you think you dare not, you don't;
If you'd like to win, but think you can't
It's almost certain, you won't.

If you think you'll lose, you're lost;
Since out in our world we find
success begins with a person's will,
It's all in your state of mind.

Life's battles don't always go
to the stronger or faster hand;
But sooner or later
the person who wins
is the one who thinks....."I CAN".

Linda E. Knight

Another Sunny Day!

(This was written on Tuesday night - just couldn't get the pictures to download until this a.m.)

Well, our luck is holding out so far .... blue skies again today.  It looked a little "iffy" this a.m. but the sun came out late in the a.m. and it was a beautiful day again.  We arrived last night in Doolin which is a small little coastal town.  Not a lot of nightlife going on but there are a couple of pubs in the village.  We had dinner in one of them last night and listened to some traditional Irish music - no singing, just instrumentals.  After a few songs, one began to sound like the other.   I did have my first Irish Coffee last night though! 

We made a list today of how many pubs we've visited in our trip.  So far, we are at 28!  But you have to understand that all our meals (except breakfast) have been eaten in the pub except for 2-3 lunches.  My sister thinks we'll need to attend AA when we return!  You know, we have to get the full Irish experience!

Today we took a 40 minute ferry over to Inisheer Island which is the smallest of the Aran Islands.  When we departed from the ferry, there were several locals offering tours around the island.  Luckily, we didn't take the first one we saw - he wanted 10 euros each - but instead took the last one for 5 euros each!!  It was absolutely fascinating!  There are only 200 residents on the island with 1 primary and 1 secondary school and 1 doctor and 1 nurse on the island.  The roads are super skinny with hand-built rock walls on either side.  He took us by a 10th century church ruin where the patron saint is buried; a 15th century castle ruin, a shipwrecked boat from 1960; and  a burial site from 1500 BC.   The land is totally divided up and handed down through the generations to family members.  The whole island is made of limestone.   The Irish (Gaelic) language is the only language spoken on the islands.  Of course our guide also spoke English.  There was a young couple on the tour with us who were from Ireland and only knew a few words of Irish. Only about 9 % of the total Irish population speak Irish.  Our guide stopped and spoke with another man on the tour and it was great to hear them converse in Irish.  The other couple told us that was a rare treat for us.

In between those narrow stone walls are where you drive!  The larger areas are for the residents - gardens, cows, etc.

The inscription is in the Irish (Gaelic) language

Did You Know?

Disney World in Orlando, Florida, covers 30,500 acres, which is 46 square miles. That is twice the size of Manhattan.

In 2003, the personal fortune of J.K. Rowling - best-selling British author of the wildly popular Harry Potter books - surpassed that of the Queen of England.

Dr. Seuss wrote Green Eggs and Ham after his editor challenged him to produce a book using fewer than 50 different words. 

If the minimum wage had risen as fast as CEO pay since 1990, the lowest-paid workers in the United States would have earned $23.03 an hour in 2005.

On average, women utter 7,000 words a day; men manage just over 2,000.

Beautiful SUNNY Ireland

ST STEPHENS GREEN IN DUBLIN

I finally have good internet in my room and don't have to sit in the lobby to type!!

We have had the most beautiful weather in Ireland ever since we have been here.  We haven't seen one drop of rain and the skys have been "Carolina Blue" every day.  I'm afraid we are due for a change tomorrow though but we are not complaining.  I have only had my jacket on a few times - mostly just sweaters and long sleeve tees.

We have seen and done so much that I am keeping a travel journal and trying to jot things down.  (It's hell getting old and not remembering what you did yesterday!!)  I think my last blog post, we had finished our days in Kilkenny and were headed to Kilarney.  On our way we stopped and toured the Rock of Cashel which is a 12-13th century cathedral.  It is just amazing to me how old these buildings are and to think the residents of America were living in tee pees!!  While in Cashel, we visited a (very) local pub there - Pat Fox's.  We had met an Irelander on the road and he told us to stop in and tell his brother hi so we did!  From there, we headed to Cahir where Ashley and I toured a medieval castle.  Sonny had seen his fill of castles and cathedrals so he sat in a park and read his novel.  Afterwards, we met him in a local pub (surprise!!) and had a pint.  When we were leaving, there was a funeral procession going by.  It was very interesting to us - instead of everyone following in their cars, they were walking and flanking the car carrying the casket. 

From there we drove on to Killarney.  Our hotel was ultra modern.  I was not so impressed with Killarney - it was more of a party town and of course, us being there on a Saturday night didn't help.  We had dinner in a small pub (great fish & chips!) and watched a soccer match against Ireland and Macedonia.  Everyone in the pub was glued to the tv just like us watching the Steelers play!  When Ireland won, there was a jovial atmosphere.  We left there and went to another pub thinking we would listen to some good Irish music.  Instead, we could have been in a bar in America with all the young people shoulder to shoulder and the rock music playing.  We did not stay there long!!  Unfortunately, at our hotel there was a bar with live music playing in the courtyard downstairs that was also really crowded and our window overlooked the courtyard.  They partied until about 2:30 AM!  I was not happy!!

On Sunday we managed to book a tour bus (all day) to see the Ring of Kerry which is a 100+ mile horseshoe around the Iveragh Peninsula. The route goes along the peninsula with views of Kells Bay and the beautiful Dingle Bay.  There are lovely mountain range views along the Iveragh Peninsula also.  I got some great pictures!  We made several stops to take photos.  We went through one little village that only has 90 people living in it!  (Molls Gap)  The downside of the tour was our tour driver.  He had a very heavy accent and no one on the bus could understand him.  We tried to slow him down which worked for about 5 minutes!  But it was much better than Sonny having to navigate those narrow coastal roads!  Their roads here (not the major highway) are about as wide as one lane of our highway - with no shoulder and stone fences on the passenger side.   Last night we had dinner (and a few pints) at Danny Manns Bar.  It was quite large but there was a good singer in there singing many Clancy Brothers songs that we enjoyed.

Today we drove to Doolin.  Our first stop was a beautiful little town, Adare in the county of Limerick.  It is  regarded as being Ireland's prettiest and most picturesque village.  Adare's streets are lined with original thatched cottages which have survived for hundreds of years. Some of the cottages are kept by local restaurants and Arts & Crafts shops, but many are still privately owned. We just strolled around town and the Visitors Center.  Our next stop was in Bunratty where the original Durty Nellie's Pub is located.  We had lunch there and took a lot of pictures.  Durty Nellie's is a favorite bar of ours in San Antonio when we visit there so it was fun to find the original.  After lunch, we toured the 15th century Bunratty Castle, the 19th century Bunratty Folk Park and the Village Street. The Castle is the most complete and authentic medieval fortress in Ireland.  Built in 1425, the castle was restored in 1954 to its former medieval splendour and now contains mainly 15th and 16th century furnishings.

Here are some pictures - in no particular order!

VIEW FROM BUS WINDOW on RING OF KERRY TOUR



POWERSCOURT WATERFALL - NEAR KILKENNY



ST FRANCIS ABBEY AT SMITHWICK BREWERY / KILKENNY





DURTY NELLY'S ORIGINAL

DOOLIE, IRELAND - ATLANTIC OCEAN

SHEEP ARE EVERYWHERE!

 

Answers to Quiz

Answers to yesterday's quiz!

1. (b) On the floor, to the left of the clutch.  Hand controls, popular in   Europe, took till the late '60's to catch on.

2. (b) To sprinkle clothes before ironing..  Who had a steam iron?

3.. (c) Cold weather caused  the milk to freeze and expand, popping the bottle top...

4 . (a) Blackjack Gum.

5. (b) Special makeup was applied, followed by drawing a seam down the back of the leg with eyebrow pencil.

6. (a) 1946 Studebaker.

7. (c) Wax coke bottles containing super-sweet colored water.

8. (a) Wax for your flat top (butch) haircut. 

9. (a) With clamps , tightened by a skate key, which you wore on a shoestring around your neck.

10.. (c) Eeny-meeny-miney-mo.

11. (c) Polio. In beginning of August, swimming pools were closed, movies and other public gathering places were closed to try to prevent spread of the disease..

12. (b) Taxi , Better be ready by half-past eight!

13. (c) Macaroni ...

14. (c) Hiding under your desk, and covering your head with your arms in an A-bomb drill.

15. (a) Princess Summerfallwinterspring. She was another puppet.

16... (a) Immediately sniffed the purple ink to get a high.

17. (b) Put in a special stamp book, they could be traded for household items at the Green Stamp store.

18. (c) Ammunition, and we'll all be free.

19. (a) The widely famous 50's group: The Inkspots.  

20. (a) Tony Bennett, and he sounds just as good today.

SCORING

17- 20 correct : You are older than dirt, and obviously gifted with mental abilities. Now if you could only find your glasses. Definitely someone who should share your wisdom!

12 -16 correct: Not quite dirt yet, but you're getting there.

0 -11 correct: You are not old enough to share the wisdom of your experiences.


Guess I'm OLD - I got them all right!!  What about you?

Kilkenny

Having so much fun!  We left Dublin yesterday in our rental car and drove to Kilkenny.  What an experience!  Sonny was gripping the steering wheel all the way while trying to figure out driving on the wrong side of the road!  The roads here are quite narrow and it is pretty scary.  Ashley sat in front to be the navigator.  I started out on the passenger side in the back but quickly moved over behind the driver so I didn't have to see how close we were coming to the stone walls on the side.  We only touched the wall once - only folding the mirror in and only missed about a half dozen turns resulting in us having to turn around and backtrack.  When we got to our hotel, Sonny parked the car and we have walked all around ever since!  It is about a 20 minute walk (about a mile) into the town.

Last night we walked into town and found The Kytelers Inn / Pub that had a couple playing Irish tunes.  This was just the type of pub that I imagined in Ireland!  The Kytelers Inn dates back to 1324, when Dame Alice Kyteler, a Banker-Money Lender, Brothel Keeper and Black Witch first established business on this medieval site. Dame Alice Kyteler was accused of being a witch and sent to the dungeons beneath Kilkenny Castle. But by the political power of the Chancellor of  Ireland, her former brother-in-law Roger Outlawe, her escape was organised. Her guards were beaten senseless and Dame Alice was released from the dungeons and freed from the sentence of death that hung over her. Instead Alice Kyteler's servant, Petronella, was burned at the stake for witchcraft in 1324.  The pub is supposed to be haunted.  There was a couple of local men sitting at the bar who got up and were dancing the Irish jig.  I got up to take a picture .... big mistake!!  One of the men grabbed me and started dancing with me - as if I know how to dance a jig!!  I was able to keep up for a few minutes but thought if the song didn't stop, I was going to have a heart attack!!  By the end of the night, we were quite good friends with Adrian!  He is the local tailor here and is quite a character.

Today we took a walking tour of Kilkenny and learned the history of this medieval town.  It is just hard to believe how old the buildings are.  We also took a tour of the Smithwick Brewery.  The brewery is situated on the site of a Franciscan abbey where monks had brewed ale since the 14th century, and has ruins of the original abbey on its grounds. It is Ireland’s oldest operating brewery, founded by John Smithwick in 1710 on land owned by the Duke of Ormonde.  The Smithwick's unlike the Guiness tour in Dublin is actually at the brewery. You get to travel through and see beer in the making.  It was very interesting.

I am very tired tonight and my battery power on my computer is about to die!   We need to plan out our day tomorrow.  We will be driving again = this time headed to Killarney.

History Quiz

How much of this do you remember?

1. In the 1940s, where were automobile headlight dimmer switches located?
a. On the floor shift knob.
b. On the floor board, to the left of the  clutch
c. Next to the horn.

2. The bottle top of a Royal Crown Cola bottle had holes in it.. For what was it used?
a. Capture lightning bugs.
b. To sprinkle clothes before ironing.
c. Large salt shaker.

3. Why was having milk delivered a problem in northern winters?
a. Cows got cold and wouldn't produce milk.
b. Ice on highways forced delivery by dog sled.
c. Milkmen left deliveries outside of front doors and milk would freeze, expanding and pushing up the cardboard bottle top.

4. What was the popular chewing gum  named  for a game of chance?
a. Blackjack
b. Gin
c. Craps

5. What method did women use to look as if they were wearing stockings when none were available due to rationing during WW II.
a. Suntan
b. Leg painting
c. Wearing slacks

6. What postwar car turned automotive design on its ear when you couldn't tell whether it was coming or going?
a. Studebaker
b. Nash Metro
c. Tucker

7. Which was a popular candy when you were a kid?
a . Strips of dried peanut butter.
b. Chocolate licorice bars.
c Wax coke-shaped bottles with colored sugar water inside.

8. How was Butch wax used?
a. To stiffen a flat-top haircut so it stood up..
b. To make floors shiny and prevent scuffing.
c On the wheels of roller skates to prevent rust.

9. Before inline skates, how did you keep your roller skates attached to your shoes?
a. With clamps, tightened by a skate key.
b. Woven straps that crossed the foot.
c. Long pieces of twine.

10. As a kid, what was considered the best way to reach a decision?
a. Consider all the facts.
b. Ask Mom.
c. Eeny-meeny-miney-MO.

11. What was the most dreaded disease in the 1940s and 1950s?
a. Smallpox
b. AIDS
c. Polio

12. 'I'll be down to get you in a ________, Honey'
a. SUV
b. Taxi
c. Streetcar

13. What was the name of Caroline Kennedy's pony?
a. Old Blue
b. Paint
c Macaroni

14 What was a Duck-and-Cover Drill?
a. Part of the game of hide and seek.
b. What you did when your  Mom called you in to do chores.
c Hiding under your desk, and covering your head with your arms in an A-bomb drill. 

15 . What was the name of the Indian Princess in the Howdy Doody Show?
a. Princess Summerfallwinterspring
b. Princess Sacajawea
c Princess Moonshadow

16. What did all the really savvy students do when mimeographed tests were handed out in school?
a. Immediately sniffed the purple ink, as this was believed to get you high.
b. Made paper airplanes to see who could sail theirs out the window.
c. Wrote another pupil's name on the top, to avoid their failure.

17. Why did your Mom shop in stores that gave Green Stamps with purchases?
a.. To keep you out of mischief by licking the backs, which tasted like bubble gum.
b. They could be put in special books and redeemed for various household items.
c. They were given to the kids to be used as stick-on tattoos.

18. Praise the Lord , and pass the _________?
a.. Meatballs
b. Dames
c. Ammunition

19. What was the name of the singing group that made the song 'Cabdriver' a hit?
a. The Ink Spots
b. The Supremes
c. The  Esquires

20. Who left his heart in  San Francisco  ?
a. Tony Bennett
b. Xavier Cugat
c. George Gershwin
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CHECK BACK TOMORROW FOR ANSWERS!