UK/France 2011

Happy Birthday Mom!

Foosball is not going that well. It’s fun but we get knocked out of the events pretty quickly. We’ve been taking it a lot slower since we got here. I posted more pictures from the past few days. Tomorrow is our last day here before flying home Monday.

Our hotel in the suburbs of Paris is really nice, but it’s about a 45 minute commute by train into the city. Still, it is worth it. The suburban train system was easy enough to figure out. The hotel and neighboring casino sit on a lake, and no, I have not been to the casino (yet).

The foosball tournament started bright and early in the morning. The first event was me and Dustin playing in Semi-Pro doubles. We did not win a single game in the qualification round and finished 103rd out of 109 teams. Not good.

Dustin fared much better without me and finished 9th in the draw-your-partner event. While he was doing that I took Michelle and Ali into the city to see the Eiffel Tower and eat dinner.

Similar schedule today, but the event is Open Singles.

Yesterday we started the day in the north of England at Alnwick castle, then made the long journey down to Bicester. The Leaches took us out to dinner and we ended up staying the night at their house. Had a great time catching up with them and relaxing for the night.

Today we spent the morning in Oxford and walked around for a bit before heading back into central London and returning the car. We put about 1500 miles on it in 8 days. We are now at St. Pancras station waiting to board the Eurostar train to Paris.

Congratulations on graduating Crystal!

We spent all day today in Edinburgh, visiting Edinburgh Castle and the Queen’s residence. Mark and Lynne met us in the city and showed us around. After dinner we began the drive south back into England and ended up at a little inn in the middle of nowhere in Northumberland.

Tomorrow we have a long day. Alnwick Castle in the morning (the castle they used in the Harry Potter movies) and then the long drive back down to Bicester to visit the Leaches. Tomorrow is our last full day in England before we head to Paris.

Today we started the road trip north, first driving through Yoker, then heading up the Loch Lomond coast and into the highlands. It’s been raining off and on but the drive has been good. The scenery is amazing. We ate lunch in Fort William and now we’re driving along the coast of Loch Ness. Haven’t seen Nessie just yet.

Happy Birthday Brieanne!

Betty and Lynne met us for lunch and shopping today. We ate some authentic Scottish food at Sloane’s on Argyle Street. Then we walked around town and found an area where booths were set up from various local Scottish food and drink companies. We sampled confectionaries, haggis, beer, and whiskey.

I know I need to post more pictures, but internet has been expensive here. Hopefully I can post more soon.

Tonight we plan to relax and find a place to watch the Champions League Final. Tomorrow we plan to head into the Highlands, Fort William, and Inverness.

We spent the day in Dublin yesterday. Started at the Guinness Storehouse, a pretty neat place. You get to enjoy a pint of Guinness at a bar at the top of a building overlooking the city. After that we got some food and let the girls shop in the city center for a bit. Then we pub hopped the rest of the evening. Dublin is definitely a place you could stay for several days but our schedule is tight, we had to wake up bright and early this morning. Right now we’re on the motorway in Northern Ireland heading to the Belfast ferry terminal. From there we have a 2 hour ride to Stranraer Scotland, then an 80 mile drive into Glasgow. Weather has been great every day… Hoping that trend continues.

We made it to Dublin just in time to see a soccer match. It turns out, by some random luck, that Scotland and Wales were playing at Aveva stadium in downtown Dublin. We immediately went to the stadium after arriving. As we were asking around for how to get tickets, a Scot overheard us and gave us 4 tickets for free! 10 rows up behind the goal. The stadium wasn’t very crowded but the Scots did represent very well. Tons of fun, see the pictures.

Tomorrow we are spending the day in Dublin, then Friday we make our way north to Glasgow.

Right now we are on a cruise ferry headed toward Dublin Ireland! We woke up early and drove through northern Wales, stopping to see Conwy Castle along the way. There is a ferry terminal in Holyhead Wales where we drove right onto the ferry boat. Getting ready to set sail, more updates later tonight.

We covered a lot of ground today. Took us a few hours but we finally got out of central London with a car. First stop was Stonehenge. We couldn’t have asked for better weather: blue skies and a light breeze for the third day in a row. From there we ventured on to Bath, a beautiful city to the west. We only had time to spend an hour there. We started the journey north, and found a nice hotel on the outskirts of Liverpool.

Looks like the Iceland volcano cancelled flights out of Scotland. We got here just in time. Our plan from here is to drive into northern Wales and take a ferry to Dublin, Ireland tomorrow.