Well this post is sorta old news, as its been a week since the events transpired, but you're gonna just have to deal with it. Anyway, this tale begins back in December as I was getting ready for my trip. My dad decided that he wanted to come over and visit, as he'd never been to foggy London town, and since my sister Jen would be graduating in May, a trip across the pond seemed like a solid graduation present. Additionally, since Jen had been to London in high school, we decided that she'd come over a few days early and that she and I'd take a little side trip to Ireland before rendezvousing with pops back in London. Jen was to arrive early Monday morning, then we'd catch a flight to Dublin that afternoon and have 2 and half days in Ireland (including a day trip to
Galway and the West coast).
Unfortunately, her flight from the Chi was delayed over 4 hours and we missed our original flight and had to pay a ridiculous fee to get on one later in the day (the entire
Ryanair corporation is made up of douches). So instead of getting into Dublin at 2 pm, we arrived at like 8. After checking into our hostel, we walked around for a bit and grabbed dinner (realizing that Dublin is paradoxically more expensive than London) and met up with another studying abroad old friend, Katie McLean, for some drinks (read: Guiness) before turning in. Jen was wiped out from her absurd travel day, plus we had to get up early for our bus to the west coast.
Now I'd been a little skeptical of the merits of taking a 4 hour bus ride (at 730 am) to the coast when there was so much to do/see in Dublin, but the tour we were on was amazing. Our hilarious/awesome/perverted old Irish guide was the man and the sights were fantastic. Millenia-old Celtic forts and tombs, castles, medieval cathedrals, and the Cliffs of Moher, which are in competition for my favorite things I've seen over here. Ireland is probably one of the greatest places on earth and the Irish people are fantastic. I'm really not a fan of guided tours, I'd rather just figure stuff out myself, but given our limited time I was definitely happy with this one. We also stopped for lunch at a great little pub in the coolest/tiniest little town where I had one of the greatest meals of my life consisting of Irish Stew, chips (fries), and a Guiness. After that full day of sight-seeing, we got back to our hostel in Dublin pretty late and hit the sack for our full day in Dublin.
The next morning we wandered around the beautiful campus of Trinity College and went to the National Gallery of Ireland, as they were both really close to our hostel. Next, on our walk towards Dublin Castle and St. Patrick's Cathedral, we ran into a kid we went to high school with, Brooks Smith, randomly while walking down the street. Now this is not the first time this has happened during my travels, but it's still absolutely astounding. What are the odds of running into someone you haven't seen in years, completely unplanned, while just walking down the street in a major foreign city? Anyway, he was in town from Budapest visiting a friend, but since she was in class, he joined us for the rest of our sightseeing. After the cathedral and the castle, we headed towards what I perceived would be the highlight of our day, the Guiness Brewery Tour. After my disappointing experience at the Heineken Brewery, my hopes weren't too high, but it was definitely pretty sweet. Plus, after 2 and a half pints of Guiness, wandering around is just that much more enjoyable. We bid Brooks adieu afterward so he could go meet his friend, and Jen and I went to have a picnic at Phoenix Park, which is apparently the largest enclosed park in Europe. It used to be the private grounds of the English royalty/their representatives in Ireland before the Irish kicked those bastards out. Anyway, after that we had to head to the airport to catch our evening flight back to London, and after some more travel difficulties, we finally made it back to my place late Wednesday night.
After an invigorating nights sleep on the floor, as I had gentlemanly allowed Jen to have the bed, we went to meet the padre at Heathrow and got the two of them checked into their hotel (lesson learned: if a hotel seems surprisingly cheap for London, don't expect much). After lunch at the pub, we did one of those lame, super touristy bus tours of the city, which was actually sort of interesting, though as a London quasi-resident, I have trouble admitting that. After a nice English dinner of bangers and mash by Liverpool St. (nice to have someone with money around, I ate better the 5 days my dad was here than I probably have the rest of the trip combined), we hit up the pub for a few drinks and caught the end of the Liverpool/Atletico Madrid match on tv. The next morning, we went to the Tower of London, which I haven't been to these past 4 months. I think I've become sort of immune to the cool-ness of seeing really old stuff, but I think dad and Jen really enjoyed it, and the Tower was still pretty sweet. Next we went out to Greenwich for the rest of the day, one of my favorite places in London, to check out the Royal Observatory and Royal Naval College grounds. Also had lunch at the Trafalgar Tavern on the river, which apparently big shots like Charles Dickens used to frequent back in the day. After Greenwich, we went to Covent Garden for the ultimate in London touristy-ness and had a nice Italian dinner in Soho before grabbing drinks at a bar in Covent Garden.
Saturday, Jen and dad had the pleasure to experience the great Danny Schufreider London walking tour, as described in previous posts. However, as Big Dan was present, an amazing lunch at the top of the National Gallery was included, as was actually going inside Westminster Abbey. Also, since it was May Day, there was a wacky Anarchist/Communist protest going on outside Parliament, so that was neat. After deciding against going up in the London Eye, we headed back to Mile End for dinner at the Greedy Cow, probably my 'hood's best restaurant, and a night out at the ole Palm Tree in Mile End Park, the capital's finest night spot, which my dad really seemed to enjoy, though Jen may not have. Sunday, after a breakfast trip to Brick Lane for some famous bagels, we judged it best to make it a museum day as the weather was pretty shitty. Despite having been to the Museum of London and the British Museum before, I definitely enjoyed the return trip, being the history nerd that I am. For dinner, we went to Rule's near Leicester Square, billed as the oldest restaurant in London. I got the venison, which the menu boasted may contain lead shot, but alas, no such luck.
Monday, their last day, I got to sleep in as they were going to the Wartime Cabinet Rooms/Churchill museum and I'd been there twice already. I met up with them for lunch (at Nando's, YES) before they had to head off to the airport for their flight home. It was awesome having them visit however. These past months have been the longest I've ever been away from home (by far) and though maybe I should grow up and get used to it, it was nice to have some family here for a visit at least. As great as it was to see 'em, it's also gotten me thinking about the bittersweet moment coming up in a couple weeks (only 2 more weeks, holy shit). I really am getting ready to go home and see everybody, but at the same time I love London and am going to miss the people here. It is definitely going to be tough to leave, and at the same time, I know that when the time comes I'll be ready to go (though after like a week home, I'll probably be ready to murder my family and bored out of my mind). So on that lame/sappy note, peace out hombres. Look for at least one more post before I go home, as May has included/will include some neat London happenings. Schuuuuuuf OUT!
