10-Day Break! (Part 1)

For the Triduum and Easter week we had a nice long break of 12 days to travel anywhere we wanted!  My friend Sarah and I really wanted to see England, Scotland, and Ireland, so that's what we set our sights on, and we made it!  It was a crazy first weekend with making connections, but we saw the things we really wanted to, and more, and had a really good time, and we made it to Ireland for Easter and the Easter week, which was the goal!  God provided for us so much during this time.  He always got us from Point A to Point B one way or another and sent us people to help us get there.  His provisions, mercy, and love were so present during this week which made it a very blessed trip and quite peaceful once we had a chance to sit back and take in the beauty.

England
Our flight landed in London, and we had to get a bus to the train station that would take us ultimately to Oxford.  So we only were in London very briefly, but it gave me a little taste of the city that makes me hope that one day I'll get to go back and explore it; but if that never happens, it leaves me something to dream about. :) I took pictures of the classic London icons that we passed on the bus ride.  This was fun for me because, growing up, one of my favorite games to play on the computer was Disney's 102 Dalmatians: Puppies to the Rescue, which takes you all over London and the English countryside.  So I took pictures of the things that reminded me of the game, too.

The red public phone booths.

The red buses.

We got to ride on the London Underground, which was really cool.  :)  It was awesome, and a bit taunting, because it took us right underneath Regent's Park and Baker Street.  We were sorely tempted to run up and see the street of Sherlock Holmes, but we had a train to catch that we didn't want to miss.  

After our train ride, we arrived in Oxford and walked to our hostel.  We settled in, and then went out into the town to seek out the main destination of the trip: The Eagle and Child Pub where C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien would go to talk and write.  :)  

The Rabbit Room: meeting place of The Inklings, including C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien.

The pub was closing, so we didn't get to try the food; but we got to visit this iconic literary location, which was awesome.  Mission 1 accomplished!

The next morning, we wandered around Oxford for a few hours until we had to catch a bus up to Edinburgh, Scotland.  

Oxford is a charming little town!  It was a beautiful place and I'm glad we took the time to visit it.  :)  It's no wonder such great authors came from this place!

Oxford Castle.

Castle Mound.

Christ's Church College, home of the Hogwarts Dining Hall from the movies!  

We did not see the inside of many of these places because we were short on time, and most places require you to pay to go inside.  But the architecture in England is amazing!  We loved all the old stone buildings.  :)

(Photo credit to Sarah K)

Like I said, this first leg of the trip in particular was a real test in trust.  We showed up to the bus station and bought our ticket to Birmingham. Our hostel receptionist told us you could save money by buying the ticket to Birmingham and then to Edinburgh from Birmingham, so we did that.  Thankfully, we got seats on the bus.  I looked at our ticket, and could hardly believe my eyes.  Our reservation reference was the word "fiat."  For those of you not familiar with Latin, this is the Latin translation of Mary's response to the angel Gabriel at the Annunciation.  "Be it done to me."  Such an expression of trust!  And it's our bus ticket reference.  It was like another reminder from the Lord: "Trust me. I've got you."  It was so good to feel God's presence with me on this day, since it was Good Friday, and I knew I wasn't getting to Communion Service that day.  By the grace of God, I was able to make this bus ride a holy experience.  At 3 p.m. I prayed the Chaplet of Divine Mercy, and later that evening, Sarah and I prayed a Rosary together.  It was such a blessed time.  As we prayed the Rosary, we passed through these great hills of the English countryside! They were so big and beautiful.  We were in awe.  :)

On the bus ride, after our Rosary, one of the drivers just started talking to us, and the people behind us.  We got onto the topic of pets, so I got to tell him a little about my dogs, which was funny and random.  He had some great stories about several pets that he's had or that friends of his had had: horses, dogs, cats, even a monkey!  

We also got to watch a fantastic sunset along the English/Scottish countryside.  :)  

We got into Edinburgh that night.  Originally, we wanted to stay the night in a convent 20 minutes outside of town.  But our bus got into Edinburgh an hour and a half later than I thought, and I had no way of contacting the convent by phone to find out if they would still be waiting for us.  So we decided to try to find a place in town.  We didn't get the greatest first impression of Edinburgh, walking around trying to find a hostel on a Friday night when several people are out partying; but God provided again.  We found a room; a room to ourselves, too, where we felt safe, and that was the important thing.  :)  

The next morning, we went out into town.  We walked up to Edinburgh Castle, making our way through the gardens along Prince's Street.  Edinburgh Castle was the inspiration to J.K. Rowling for Hogwarts, so it was exciting to me to see the castle for that reason.  I'm only just getting into the series, having watched most of the movies over my Christmas break and read the first book.  :)  Due to time constraints, and costs, we didn't see the inside of this place either.  But we had some fun outside it.  :) 

 I found a small stick on the ground and decided to have some nerdy moments. ;) Heeheehee!

Then we went to find The Elephant House, a cafe where J.K. Rowling began writing her books.  :)  This was one of our favorite places on the trip.  The atmosphere is very peaceful and comfortable, perfect for an author or someone looking for a good place to sit down to a cup of tea and read a book.  We enjoyed some tea there, and I had a slice of carrot cake that was really yummy. :)

Then we had to catch a bus to the Scottish coast to get our ferry to Belfast.  Or so we thought.  The bus was full!  So we went to the train station, took a series of trains out to Ayr, followed by a bus to Cairnryan (with BEAUTIFUL views of the Scottish coast, the ocean, and Scottish country homes!!).  Then we got on the ferry, and enjoyed a trip to the Irish coast.  :)  Everyone was telling us we would never get to Galway that night, which was quite discouraging, but we kept looking for options the whole way.  I finally found a bus that left at 3 a.m. from Belfast bus station and went to Dublin Airport first and then to Galway.  So we got to Belfast, got a lift into town, and waited at the bus station for a while.  But the bus station closed at 11 p.m., so then we were sitting outside in the cold for a few hours.  We took a 1 a.m. bus to the Dublin Airport to wait until the bus would come there because we thought it would be a bit more comfortable, and warm.  It wasn't much warmer, actually, but it did feel safer.  Of course...then the bus didn't come until 10 till 7 a.m.  We got into Galway at 9:40 a.m. on Easter morning!  We found the Bed and Breakfast where we were staying, dropped off our stuff, and walked to Galway Cathedral for the 12:30 p.m. Easter Mass!!  We made it to Galway for Easter Mass, and that was the goal!! And everyone said we'd never make it.  We felt really accomplished.  :) 

The Mass, of course, was beautiful!  It was great to be there celebrating the Lord's Resurrection!  

Easter Dawn, as seen from Dublin Airport bus station.  "He is risen! Indeed, He is risen!"

Galway!!

Galway Cathedral!

The rest of the day was spent finding a place for lunch, going back to our Bed and Breakfast to change out of our nicer clothes that we had worn for Mass, taking a little time to relax, and then wandering about Galway, exploring shops, looking around in two churches (one Catholic, one Anglican), and then finding a place for dinner after we met up with another friend from school who was in Ireland.  I had a cherry and yogurt crepe that afternoon, too, which was very yummy.  I had Shepherd's Pie for dinner, and it was delicious.  After dinner, we made our way back to the Bed and Breakfast, and Sarah and Joe watched a movie for a bit while I Skyped with my family.  Getting to talk to them was the best part of my day.  :) 

The next morning, we slept in! What a great feeling! Haha!  A particularly interesting British-made murder mystery was on the TV in our room, so we watched that.  The ending was rather anti-climactic and a bit disappointing; but we couldn't just walk away without knowing what had happened.  After that, we met up with Joe again and went to lunch at The King's Head.  I ordered the fish and chips, which came with mashed peas...an interesting vegetable, but it tasted good.  

After that, we made our way to a sweet shop that someone had suggested to us the day before, but which had been closed for Easter.  On the way, we did some souvenir shopping.  Just down the street from our destination, we stopped inside a bookstore, Charlie Byrne's Bookshop, for about an hour!  :)  

In the children's section, they had this fantastic sign-post!  It's so cool!  I would love to have one of these to put in my yard.  Haha!  

Of course, a hobbit has to know how to get to the Shire!   

We proceeded to Sweetie Pie's Cupcake Cafe, the sweet shop.  :)  This place was so cute!  The decor was great, it was family-run, and the cupcakes, oh my gosh!  They were amazing!  If you're ever in Galway, you must find this place.  :)  It is so good!  

My cupcake had my Mom's favorite Easter candies on the top!  Since these are some of my favorites, too, I was very happy.  

From there, we made our way to the beach in Saltville, just outside of Galway.  It was about a mile and a half walk, but not a difficult one.  I couldn't wait to get to the beach and put my feet in the sand.  

What a splendid day!  I got wet (the water was cold, but I didn't care; I wanted to stick my feet in those waves!), searched for seashells, found 2 crabs (one alive, one dead), wrote/drew in the sand, climbed on rocks....  A great day at the beach.  :)  

We went back into town after that and stopped at a grocery store to get some food to eat for dinner.  As I was looking at postcards, a group of our friends from school who were also visiting Galway spotted me.  What a pleasant surprise running into some familiar faces!  While we stood outside talking, a group of 3 dogs came along, no leashes, no apparent owners.  They just came walking down the street and stopped by us.  They were cuties.  :)  

Sarah and I went back to our B&B, ready to shower and relax.  After cleaning up, we chilled out in our room and watched "Holes," while eating our dinner of Doritos and salsa.  Haha!  Traditional Irish meal?  No; but it was yummy!  I hadn't watched "Holes" in a long time, and Sarah hadn't seen it before, so it was fun.  After that, we saw "Lilo and Stitch" was also available.  I hadn't seen that in a long time either, so I turned that on.  After that, I went to bed, ready to get some sleep before our busy day the next morning.