Hello humans,
Maggie here again, and we're both still alive. Sorry about the lack of updates, the internet was unfortunately not working at John's house until today, and we got here on Sunday.
But other than that, Italy has been AMAZING. John (our dad's friend) has been our tour guide showing us around, driving us to lots of really cool cities.
The day we got here he picked us up at the airport in Pisa in the morning and we headed straight to check out the Leaning Tower, which was gnarly. Took some pintures and then went to lunch at a place near there. I had a hot chocolate which was the best hot chocolate I've ever had, another place here was close though. After lunch we drove to a cute hilltop town called Volterra. Great views of the countryside and cute buildings and cool old churches. As we were walking around Heather makes the comment that the town feels like something out of a movie, and then we pass a bookstore with "New Moon" posters and she realizes that they shot part of that movie in Volterra. Clarence, it's the city where the Voltari live, jealous?
Next day he took us to Cinque Terre which is on the coast and very pretty. It's five towns connected by trails so you can walk to the next one or take the train. We walked the distance between the first couple towns which was no problem and were going to take the train after that but we missed the next one by a couple minutes so we decided to power on instead of waiting. This stretch was much more difficult than the ones before and super long, especially because we weren't really dressed for hiking. John nicknamed it "The Death March," haha, but we survived.
After we finally made it to the next town we had a lovely dinner and then caught the train back.
Then on Tuesday we woke up late, had amazing pizza at the place right by John's house then went and checked out Lucca. It was a super cute town. He also taught H and I how to drive stick shift that day.
Wednesday we went to Florence and checked that out. It was raining but we still walked around a bit. Heather bought a purple bag, she was stoked. We went to the Academmia Museum, which is where the Statue of David is. It's totally gnarly. You're not supposed to take pictures of it, but John blocked me from the guard and I got two pictures. He said you're a coward if you don't get a picture of it because security is not too tight. Then we went to dinner with John and his cousin who lives in Florence and a few of her friends. They were all really cool and it was a fun night.
The next day, yesterday, we checked out San Gimignano, another hilltop town. Heather and I got gelato again even though it was pretty cold. Gelato is amazing. We've had it at least four times so far. Yummmmmmmmm. Then that night we drove back to Florence to go to dinner for his cousin's birthday. It was at a Chinese restaurant.
Then today was a relax around the house and watch as many movies as possible day. Which was nice as well. Tomorrow we're going to Siena in the day and probably Florence again in the afternoon. John said there's a lot we still haven't seen there because it was rainy the first day and just dinner the second.
Well that's all for now, later.
Maggie
Friday, March 5, 2010
Saturday, February 27, 2010
Bratislava, Slovakia
Why hello there,
So we left Dublin super early Friday morning, yesterday, and arrived in Slovakia a few hours later. Bratislava is super cheap which is nice. Yesterday we didn´t do much because Heather HAD to watch the Olympics because it was women´s figure skating... So today we have been exploring the city, walking around a lot, looking at palaces and castles. Heather´s phone does not work in most of the city, we´ve only found two places where it gets service, and our hostel is not one of them, lame sausage. So if you try to reach us before we get to Italy, it might not work.
Heather wants to add that it´s a surprisingly nice city, although the outskirts of Bratislava are not too appealing. Communism was not nice to Slovakia.
Alright, signing off until Italy.
Peace.
Maggie... and Heather
So we left Dublin super early Friday morning, yesterday, and arrived in Slovakia a few hours later. Bratislava is super cheap which is nice. Yesterday we didn´t do much because Heather HAD to watch the Olympics because it was women´s figure skating... So today we have been exploring the city, walking around a lot, looking at palaces and castles. Heather´s phone does not work in most of the city, we´ve only found two places where it gets service, and our hostel is not one of them, lame sausage. So if you try to reach us before we get to Italy, it might not work.
Heather wants to add that it´s a surprisingly nice city, although the outskirts of Bratislava are not too appealing. Communism was not nice to Slovakia.
Alright, signing off until Italy.
Peace.
Maggie... and Heather
Dublin!
Greetings Fellow Americans,
So Dublin was awesome. We stayed in a nice hotel in Temple Bar for cheaper than some of our hostels have been. Mike´s friend Dominic who we met at Mike´s house, works in the hotel industry (Bono´s hotel in Dublin.) So he was able to get us a discounted price at a different hotel. It was gnarly.
So the first day we went on another free walking tour and learned some of the history of the city, it was good except that it was snowing, and superrrrr cold. Heather claims it´s the coldest she´s ever been in her life. Our tour guide was Garvan, or Gar. He´s from County Donegal, but he barely has an Irish accent, it was kind of freaking us out, or maybe just Heather. Then we walked around Temple Bar, and H noticed that the same sweatshirt she bought 5 years ago for 20 euro is now 40 euro. Lame sauce.
Next day we checked out the Guinness Storehouse, Heather for the third time, me for the first (because I´m not an alcoholic)... It was pretty gnarly. H said some of it was a bit different than the last time. The best part was the section that chronicled Guinness advertising. We were able to pick through a bunch of commercials and thought the "Brilliant" ads were, well brilliant. At the end of the tour we were able to find seats in the gravity bar, which the "alchey" said was a first for her. We enjoyed our complimentary guinnesses up there.
That night we met up with distant cousin Martin, the police officer and Mike´s son. He took us to dinner at an Italian restaurant then to a pub for a few beers. He was quite entertaining, had some good cop stories.
The next day, our last in Dublin, we went to the Museum of National History on Martin´s recommendation. It was cool reading about Irish history from way back in the day, and IT WAS FREE! The craziest part was a few ancient bodies that were pulled from a bog. There were lots of things still intact, like fingernails and hair. They were around 2000 years old, crazy.
And that´s about it for Dublin.
Later,
Maggie
So Dublin was awesome. We stayed in a nice hotel in Temple Bar for cheaper than some of our hostels have been. Mike´s friend Dominic who we met at Mike´s house, works in the hotel industry (Bono´s hotel in Dublin.) So he was able to get us a discounted price at a different hotel. It was gnarly.
So the first day we went on another free walking tour and learned some of the history of the city, it was good except that it was snowing, and superrrrr cold. Heather claims it´s the coldest she´s ever been in her life. Our tour guide was Garvan, or Gar. He´s from County Donegal, but he barely has an Irish accent, it was kind of freaking us out, or maybe just Heather. Then we walked around Temple Bar, and H noticed that the same sweatshirt she bought 5 years ago for 20 euro is now 40 euro. Lame sauce.
Next day we checked out the Guinness Storehouse, Heather for the third time, me for the first (because I´m not an alcoholic)... It was pretty gnarly. H said some of it was a bit different than the last time. The best part was the section that chronicled Guinness advertising. We were able to pick through a bunch of commercials and thought the "Brilliant" ads were, well brilliant. At the end of the tour we were able to find seats in the gravity bar, which the "alchey" said was a first for her. We enjoyed our complimentary guinnesses up there.
That night we met up with distant cousin Martin, the police officer and Mike´s son. He took us to dinner at an Italian restaurant then to a pub for a few beers. He was quite entertaining, had some good cop stories.
The next day, our last in Dublin, we went to the Museum of National History on Martin´s recommendation. It was cool reading about Irish history from way back in the day, and IT WAS FREE! The craziest part was a few ancient bodies that were pulled from a bog. There were lots of things still intact, like fingernails and hair. They were around 2000 years old, crazy.
And that´s about it for Dublin.
Later,
Maggie
Friday, February 19, 2010
Cork
'Ello all,
Maggie here again. So two days ago H and I took the train to Cork, took about an hour and a half. It's a cute little city, apparently the 2nd biggest in Ireland. We walked around a bit, had lunch, and then met up with Kieran, Mike and Lily's son. Kieran's in the army so we stayed the night with him in the Army barracks which was quite interesting. Kieran remembers meeting Heather and me when we were little when the Woulfe's were visiting California about 15 years ago, I don't remember it. He's really nice and very funny. He took us out to dinner and a pub with a couple of his army friends. It was gnarly. Then he drove us back to Patrickswell yesterday. Today we just hung out around the house, but tomorrow I think we're going to Killarney for the day. Then on Monday it's off to Dublin for 4 days to finish off our tour of Ireland.
Ok, Later.
Maggie here again. So two days ago H and I took the train to Cork, took about an hour and a half. It's a cute little city, apparently the 2nd biggest in Ireland. We walked around a bit, had lunch, and then met up with Kieran, Mike and Lily's son. Kieran's in the army so we stayed the night with him in the Army barracks which was quite interesting. Kieran remembers meeting Heather and me when we were little when the Woulfe's were visiting California about 15 years ago, I don't remember it. He's really nice and very funny. He took us out to dinner and a pub with a couple of his army friends. It was gnarly. Then he drove us back to Patrickswell yesterday. Today we just hung out around the house, but tomorrow I think we're going to Killarney for the day. Then on Monday it's off to Dublin for 4 days to finish off our tour of Ireland.
Ok, Later.
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Ireland = awesome, what else did you expect?
Ahoy There Mateys!
So apparantly I have loads of relatives in Ireland who are super nice and willing to drive Maggie and me around the country.
For example, Josie (Lily's sister) took us to Adare for the day.
Adare is a small quiet Irish town straight out of a movie. They also have a Manor. Bit of history for you, the Lord Dunraven was put in charge and built a lovely Manor for himself to live in. And despite being English he was a good guy and built houses for his farmers/workers to live in. The people of the town liked him and everyone lived in harmony. I'm assuming there was harmony, if my boss built me a house I'd be pretty happy with him.
We walked all over the Manor property (which is open to the public). It was a beautiful day and the sun was out. At one point we came up to a sign that said, "Residents and Guests Beyond this Point Only," to which Josie said, "Well girls, are we residents or guests?" We continued toward the Adare Manor, looming in the distance. As we approached the Manor there was another sign reading the same as the one before. And again we ignored it and went inside the Manor. By the way the Manor is now a ridiciously nice hotel, originally built in the 19th century with a medieval flair. Anyway, the inside was magnificant. A giant chandelier is the focal point in the main lobby. As we were touring the extravagantly decorated high tea room, I turned to Josie and asked "Do you think this place is haunted?" and she responded "It'd be a pity if it wasn't," which I thought was quite a splendid answer. After that we went outside and walked by the river which is near the golf course. Once we left the grounds of the Manor, the three of us lunched at a pub down the road and it was quite lovely.
And yesterday, two more of Lily's siblings who we didn't know about, Noula and Michael, drove us to the Cliffs of Moher which were quite spectacular. The view was awesome, it was super windy, and the rain held off just until we got into the car to continue on our journey. From the cliffs we drove to Galway which was maybe an hour and a half or two hours from there. Galway was a cute little city with tons of stores, restaurants, and whatnot. We ate at another pub, of course, and I had an awesome seafood platter, Maggie the Irish stew. From there we walked around for a bit and then headed back to Michael's house. Oh and Padre, on the way back we stopped for a drink at Durty Nelly's, it was gnarly.
Got to go,
Heather
So apparantly I have loads of relatives in Ireland who are super nice and willing to drive Maggie and me around the country.
For example, Josie (Lily's sister) took us to Adare for the day.
Adare is a small quiet Irish town straight out of a movie. They also have a Manor. Bit of history for you, the Lord Dunraven was put in charge and built a lovely Manor for himself to live in. And despite being English he was a good guy and built houses for his farmers/workers to live in. The people of the town liked him and everyone lived in harmony. I'm assuming there was harmony, if my boss built me a house I'd be pretty happy with him.
We walked all over the Manor property (which is open to the public). It was a beautiful day and the sun was out. At one point we came up to a sign that said, "Residents and Guests Beyond this Point Only," to which Josie said, "Well girls, are we residents or guests?" We continued toward the Adare Manor, looming in the distance. As we approached the Manor there was another sign reading the same as the one before. And again we ignored it and went inside the Manor. By the way the Manor is now a ridiciously nice hotel, originally built in the 19th century with a medieval flair. Anyway, the inside was magnificant. A giant chandelier is the focal point in the main lobby. As we were touring the extravagantly decorated high tea room, I turned to Josie and asked "Do you think this place is haunted?" and she responded "It'd be a pity if it wasn't," which I thought was quite a splendid answer. After that we went outside and walked by the river which is near the golf course. Once we left the grounds of the Manor, the three of us lunched at a pub down the road and it was quite lovely.
And yesterday, two more of Lily's siblings who we didn't know about, Noula and Michael, drove us to the Cliffs of Moher which were quite spectacular. The view was awesome, it was super windy, and the rain held off just until we got into the car to continue on our journey. From the cliffs we drove to Galway which was maybe an hour and a half or two hours from there. Galway was a cute little city with tons of stores, restaurants, and whatnot. We ate at another pub, of course, and I had an awesome seafood platter, Maggie the Irish stew. From there we walked around for a bit and then headed back to Michael's house. Oh and Padre, on the way back we stopped for a drink at Durty Nelly's, it was gnarly.
Got to go,
Heather
Saturday, February 13, 2010
Limerick
Hello friends,
Maggie here, again... So Ireland has been wonderful so far but I'll start with Amsterdam. We were there for one whole day, two nights. The first night we just walked around and found a restaurant, didn't stay out too long because it was so cold. The next day we went on a walking tour and learned some of the city's history which was quite interesting. My favorite part was when the guide, Amy, told us about Louis Bonaparte. He was Napoleon's brother, and was appointed as king of the Netherlands in 1806 by Napoleon. She told us that he only did two major things in Holland as King (before Napoleon fired him.) He made all buildings have address numbers, instead of just having a plaque in front of the house to identiy who lives there. And the second thing he did was make all the Dutch people have surnames, because too many people had the same names. The Dutch people thought it was stupid becasue they were getting along just fine, so some of them came up with ridiculous names, like "Pile of Pants," "Born Naked," "Little S***," or "Hardly ever at home" (in Dutch of course) to show Louis they thought it was stupid. But Loius didn't speak Dutch so he didn't know what they meant anyway, and apparently some people in Holland still have these ridiculous last names, so it kind of backfired.
So after the walking tour we went to a restaurant with the guide and a few other people and had a traditional Dutch meal of sausage and mashed potatoes. It was pretty good. Heather had seconds on the sausage... Then we went to the Anne Frank House which was really interesting. You get to walk through the house and they have it set up how it was so you go behind a book case and climb up the super steep steps to get to the hidden rooms. There were also videos of Otto Frank, her dad, and Miep Gies, a woman who helped them hide. It was pretty crazy.
After that we went on another walking tour, this one of the Red Light District, which is where our hostel was. It was pretty interesting. So that was a full day, and then the next morning we left for Ireland.
Yesterday (our first whole day here) Heather and I did pretty much nothing, and it was nice. We hung around the house with Mike, did our laundry, and that was about it. Lily is in South Africa right now so it is just Mike at the house. Their daughter Lisa stopped by the house yesterday with her son Shane. He's 3 and super cute with his little Irish accent.
Today Mike drove us into Limerick where we walked around and went into some stores and whatnot. Then we took a taxi back to Patrickswell (where their house is) and found a pub that Mike recommended and watched the big Ireland/France rugby game. France won 30-10, but it was still cool watching it in a pub with people who were super into it.
Not sure what we're doing tomorrow, maybe just relax again, or go into town again.
That's all for now.
Peace.
Maggie here, again... So Ireland has been wonderful so far but I'll start with Amsterdam. We were there for one whole day, two nights. The first night we just walked around and found a restaurant, didn't stay out too long because it was so cold. The next day we went on a walking tour and learned some of the city's history which was quite interesting. My favorite part was when the guide, Amy, told us about Louis Bonaparte. He was Napoleon's brother, and was appointed as king of the Netherlands in 1806 by Napoleon. She told us that he only did two major things in Holland as King (before Napoleon fired him.) He made all buildings have address numbers, instead of just having a plaque in front of the house to identiy who lives there. And the second thing he did was make all the Dutch people have surnames, because too many people had the same names. The Dutch people thought it was stupid becasue they were getting along just fine, so some of them came up with ridiculous names, like "Pile of Pants," "Born Naked," "Little S***," or "Hardly ever at home" (in Dutch of course) to show Louis they thought it was stupid. But Loius didn't speak Dutch so he didn't know what they meant anyway, and apparently some people in Holland still have these ridiculous last names, so it kind of backfired.
So after the walking tour we went to a restaurant with the guide and a few other people and had a traditional Dutch meal of sausage and mashed potatoes. It was pretty good. Heather had seconds on the sausage... Then we went to the Anne Frank House which was really interesting. You get to walk through the house and they have it set up how it was so you go behind a book case and climb up the super steep steps to get to the hidden rooms. There were also videos of Otto Frank, her dad, and Miep Gies, a woman who helped them hide. It was pretty crazy.
After that we went on another walking tour, this one of the Red Light District, which is where our hostel was. It was pretty interesting. So that was a full day, and then the next morning we left for Ireland.
Yesterday (our first whole day here) Heather and I did pretty much nothing, and it was nice. We hung around the house with Mike, did our laundry, and that was about it. Lily is in South Africa right now so it is just Mike at the house. Their daughter Lisa stopped by the house yesterday with her son Shane. He's 3 and super cute with his little Irish accent.
Today Mike drove us into Limerick where we walked around and went into some stores and whatnot. Then we took a taxi back to Patrickswell (where their house is) and found a pub that Mike recommended and watched the big Ireland/France rugby game. France won 30-10, but it was still cool watching it in a pub with people who were super into it.
Not sure what we're doing tomorrow, maybe just relax again, or go into town again.
That's all for now.
Peace.
Thursday, February 11, 2010
We made it to Ireland!
Why 'ello there everyone,
After pretty much all day of travelling today we finally made it to Mike and Lily's in Limerick, Ireland. We took a train from Amsterdam to Eindhoven, Netherlands this morning, then a bus from the train station to the airport in Eindhoven, then the airplane, and then another 3 hours on a bus once we got to Dublin. It was quite a day. Mike picked us up at the bus stop around 11pm and then made us sausage and eggs for dinner. Yum. Heather was very pleased to have some breakfast sausages of course... Going to bed soon so this will be a short update, but we will have regular access to a computer for at least a week now so I'll update again soon, and tell about Amsterdam. We're excited to rest for a little while in Ireland, we'll be here for two weeks.
Ok, later dudes,
Maggie
After pretty much all day of travelling today we finally made it to Mike and Lily's in Limerick, Ireland. We took a train from Amsterdam to Eindhoven, Netherlands this morning, then a bus from the train station to the airport in Eindhoven, then the airplane, and then another 3 hours on a bus once we got to Dublin. It was quite a day. Mike picked us up at the bus stop around 11pm and then made us sausage and eggs for dinner. Yum. Heather was very pleased to have some breakfast sausages of course... Going to bed soon so this will be a short update, but we will have regular access to a computer for at least a week now so I'll update again soon, and tell about Amsterdam. We're excited to rest for a little while in Ireland, we'll be here for two weeks.
Ok, later dudes,
Maggie
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)