London's Calling

Cheerio (in a British Accent).Our European vacation didn't stop with a trip to the Emerald Isle. After a whirlwind trip across the country of Ireland (and back), we then hopped on a plane for a short flight to the United Kingdom where we spent four nights in London!

Upon checking in to an adorable bed and breakfast, we hit the streets and took a stroll over to Buckingham Palace. Seriously - this place is fit for royalty. The detail on the building and the gates is just amazing.

On Thursday morning, we headed back to the palace to watch the famous changing of the guard. While there were huge crowds along the streets, we were able to sneak a peak of the guards with their bright red coats and bearskin hats. The guard entertain the guests with music and we were a little surprised to hear a little rendition of the James Bond-theme song.

From the palace, our next adventure was a double-decker bus tour. You've most likely seen these buses in New York or Chicago, but the red bus originated in London. From the top deck on a crisp day, we saw all of the famous sights. I'm not going to go all BradyHistoryStory on you here. I'm sure you can spot all of the famous sights via our pics.

Westminster Abbey

Loads of famous people are buried and married (weird that those words rhyme)

Married: Will + Kate, Andrew + Fergie, Queen Elizabeth

Buried: Geoffery Chaucer, Jane Austen, Charles Darwin, Issac Newton, Charles Dickens (just to name a few)

Big Ben

Okay, while this is one of London's most famous landmarks, it's also the nickname of the Steelers' quarterback. Therefore, I brought my Terrible Towel for a pic

Tower of London Bridge

So this bridge is way cooler than the London Bridge (you know the tune. I hope its in your head now!). They call it the Tower Bridge because its close to the Tower of London. We'll cover that later, but basically it's an old, old, old castle where the Crown Jewels are kept in a secure place (insert childish thoughs about the "crown jewels here). Oh and that body of water is the Thames River

St. Paul's Cathedral

A beauty. This is where Princess Di was married

So for my ladies. London has a pretty rad shopping district in the Oxford Circus area. While a lot of people compare Oxford Circus to New York's Times Square because they both have flashy lights and theaters, I like to compare Oxford Street to Michigan Ave in Chicago. Here you will find UK and US favorites like Reiss, TopShop, Ted Baker, H&;M, Gap, Zara, Banana Republic, Nike, etc. all on one street

For our next post, we wil get back to the historial sites.

Final Days in Ireland

We left off last with our trip back to Dublin, starting with a visit to learn about some rad ancient rocks at the Connemara Marble Factory, followed by a few hours in the lively town of Galway (photos below).

 

We then made the three-hour trek across the country back to Dublin. After night out in the Temple Bar district, we were ready for a huge last day in Ireland on Tuesday, Oct. 4.

First thing in the morning we finally visited the place where most American tourists visit first when they get to Dublin – the Guinness Storehouse. We enjoyed the self-guided tour and loved the panoramic views from the Gravity Bar at the top of the building.

 

Next up – meeting cousin Maureen downtown for lunch and some quality family time for the rest of the day/evening. The first place we wanted to visit was the Glasnevin Cemetery in Dublin to see the grave of my great great grandfather and other family members. Now, we knew Maureen was a wonderful person already, but no one told ever us she was such a great tour guide too! 

The cemetery is not only stunning, but it’s very historic too – the graves of many of Ireland's most prominent national figures are located here, including Daniel O'Connell, Charles Parnell, and Michael Collins (pictured below).  

The highlight for me of course was standing next to the grave of my great great grandfather and other family members. John Condon was a stone mason and came over to the United States to help build the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. It was here where my father's grandmother Anne Condon was born. She came back to Ireland but returned through Ellis Island years later and, well, the rest is history!

The grapes and leaves you see below were the Condon family's signature design in their stone carvings:

Other gravestones in the cemetery were also done by the Condon family:

After our cemetery experience, we took the “pretty road” (as Maureen called it) to her village of Kilcoole, which is about 40 kilometers south of Dublin. Along the way, we saw incredible views from the mountains, including plenty of Aunt Kathy’s favorite sheep along the way. We stopped for photos over the breathtaking views of Lough Tay. Our official tour guide informed us that the mansion and property you see below belongs to an heiress of the Guinness family fortune. Wow.

We then got to spend time at the Scanlan house in Kilcoole, looked at some of Maureen’s incredible photos from her last vacation in Kenya, and hung out with little Simba (below).

 

We were lucky enough to meet Maureen’s son Donal and his family, including his wife and two adorable daughters. After dinner at a local pub, we got an added bonus as Maureen's husband Michael joined us for a few minutes after getting off work - he is the Secretary General of the Department of Health in Ireland.

Brandi and I really enjoyed spending time with Maureen and her family, and we can’t thank her enough for being so kind, generous, and downright awesome in showing us around. We will certainly be keeping in touch (come to the States soon Maureen!).

Final words on Ireland: it is quite simply an amazing country with some of the friendliest people you'll ever meet on this planet. The scenery, the lively pubs, the history, the music - all of it make Ireland a place every American should visit in their lifetimes. 

Next post will be all about our next adventure in London town.

Sláinte!! (cheers in Irish)

Irish Update from Lord and Lady Smith

We just touched down in London-town after an incredible six days in Ireland. Since we're a few days behind on blogging and have a lot to cover, I’ll get into the highlights right away …

We pulled out of Killarney early in the A.M. to drive the “Ring of Kerry” after a long night of pints with our new tour bus friends from Canada and, as fate would have it, NJ/Pennsylvania. Another note about the night before – as we walked down to a pub to get the night started, the first thing we heard was a familiar tune being played by a street performer. “Country Roads, Take Me Home” … clearly there are Mountaineers everywhere!

Back to the tour … first stop was to see the “sheep dog trials” with shepherd Brendan Ferris, who would give us a rad presentation on how he trains his dogs to keep control of the flock. For those who don’t know, Ireland is full of sheep – thousands of them – so having these sheep dogs to keep control of things is a necessity. Yes, I took video:

We stopped a few times along the Ring of Kerry, which is basically a tourist route that provides excellent scenic views, like these ones:

We went out for a drink or three in Killarney on Saturday night but turned in early so we could rest up for the stunning Cliffs of Moher on Sunday.

Unfortunately, this would be the biggest disappointment of our trip – but to no fault of anyone’s but Mother Nature. Irish weather is quite unpredictable, and we found out the tough way … below is what the Cliffs typically look like, and under that is what we saw. Bummer.

We left the Cliffs and were off to Bunratty Castle, another authentic castle which now hosts medieval banquets and is home to a “folk park” with re-enactors. We have these types of shows in the States, as you know, but none of them are actually held in a real freaking castle.

Still a little bummed out from the “Misty Cliffs Incident,” we clearly had no idea what was in store for us. After entering the castle to the welcome room, and being served some mead, our hilarious tour guide Dave Yates comes to us and says, “So, ya ever been a guinea pig? Have ya?” Brandi and I instantly had the “oh shit” look on our face – we knew what was coming. A second later, a dude wearing tights who looked like a jester or something approached us and asked if we wanted to be the “Lord” and “Lady” of the banquet. I guess you can’t pass up a chance to be royalty for an evening, and before you know it, we were ushered off into the banquet room before the rest of the party, given wooden crowns, and this guy got to sit in a throne seat. Told you I was feeling more eloquent after getting Blarney Stoned.

We had a blast at the dinner, which was full of singing, harp-playing, jokes, etc. Food was pretty good too, and in typical Medieval Times style, we weren’t allowed to use utensils.

We finished the night at the Durty Nelly Pub with our tour bus friends. We also made friends with the locals and jammed out to a mix of Irish and U.S. songs played by a young dude with an acoustic guitar. The Irish definitely know how to liven up a bar atmosphere much better than Americans … the entire bar is practically singing at the top of their lungs and clapping. It’s a hell of a good time. Oh yeah, this was actually hanging from the roof of the pub - Brandi freaked out. (I mean, Dan Rooney IS the U.S. Ambassador to Ireland).

That’s all for today … tomorrow’s post will focus on the trip back to Dublin and our incredibly awesome day with our wonderful Irish cousin Maureen (now a blog reader!!) and family.

Gotta go – we’re plotting our domination of London right now.

-B&B

Shot of Irish Brandi

What’s up Americans?! It’s Brandi!

So my grandma always says to me “Brandi, you don’t miss a beat.” This is in reference to my attention to detail. And I’m talking about those little details that others don’t see. So while Brady gets you all “historified,” I’ll tell you about the other stuff.

Brandi’s Ireland Observations:

Let me start out with my favorite one – The Ireland National Anthem. Did you know that a lot of bars close the night with this song? Can you imagine being in America and ending the night with “Oh say can you seeeee?” Lol.

One of my FAVORITE things about Ireland is the bright colored architecture. All of the building doors are bold reds, pinks, yellows and blues – just to name a few. In some towns, even the whole building is painted colorfully! I’m pretty sure that they use the bold paints because of the lack of sunlight here. If you thought Pittsburgh weather was dreary, you ain’t seen Ireland!

 A store that I would like to own one day – pub & crafts!

So I like to iron. I tried to being clothes that wouldn’t wrinkle too much, but still they need a press. However, these Irish irons are WACKY! Look at this – the ironing board plugs in!!! If your iron breaks you need to buy a new board and iron!

Speaking of everyday appliances, for some reason the shower/tubs here are pretty high off the ground (a big step) and then there is the toilets. Many of the toilets do not have handles to flush. There are buttons to push. A small button for a lighter flush and a bigger one for a “number two” lol. All of our hotels have been super nice, but one night we walked into a room and could not figure out how to keep the lights on. We’d hit the switch, but then they would go out. Well, you need to keep your room key in this little wall pocket.

Hanging out with my “sheeps.”

We’ve made many friends on this trip with all different types of backgrounds. A couple around 40 from Canada, a mother and daughter from Belgium, a 77-year-old retired police officer and a couple our age from PA (Penn State grads). In total, there were 24 people on our bus. We also met some U.S. military people in a bar last night who were escorting some senators back from Baghdad. They were in Ireland on a layover for a night!

Some other random updates:
• As Brady mentioned, I did NOT kiss the Blarney Stone. It’s said to give people the gift of gab. I figured that I didn’t need that.
• I think I’ve consumed a beer and some form of potato dish each day since I’ve arrived.
• No leprechaun sightings.
• Note that when you look at our pictures, I really did pack more than two outfits. Looking back on the photos, it looks like I was here for one really long day. It’s cold people and I only packed one coat and one pair of boots!
• I had a really distorted vision of castles. I blame it on Disney.

Finally, not sure why I didn’t realize in advance that Ireland isn’t the best vacation spot for a lady who is allergic to grass and mold (and has frizzy hair). Let’s just say when I meet people on our tour bus, I say “I’m the girl with the cough.”

Oh and when your tour guide/bus driver asks if you want to be embarrassed, be prepared to have a good laugh. We will update you on that soon.

Ireland Update: Days 1 and 2

Greetings from across the pond!

It’s only been two days but we’re already in freaking love with this country. The landscape is unreal, the history is obviously rich, and the people are completely awesome.

We kicked off the trip slowly, as we arrived in the Dublin airport and had to wait two hours for a transfer, and then another two hours for an available room at our hotel. But after a crucial one-hour power nap, Brandi and I hopped on our CIE tour bus to check out the city of Dublin. We were immediately struck by the diverse color patterns in the Georgian-style buildings (Brandi will cover Irish style and architecture in a later blog post), especially the doors.

The scheduled first stop on the tour, the Dublin Castle, was unexpectedly shut down for the day because Irish president Mary McAleese was visiting, so we settled for a visit to historic Trinity College in the city center. The highlight of the visit was seeing the Book of Kells, an 8^th century manuscript containing the four Gospels of the New Testament, written in lavishly decorated calligraphy-style text. We then walked through The Long Room of the Old Library, which was easily the coolest and oldest library room I’ve ever been in. It featured Ireland’s oldest harp (the country’s national symbol) and more recently is said to be the inspiration for the Jedi Library of the Star Wars prequel series.

We wrapped up our tour of the city and later that evening, visited the Merry Ploughboy 20 minutes outside of the city to eat some grub and jam out to traditional Irish music and dancing. My personal favorite was the dude who played the Bodhran, which is an Irish drum.

After a good night’s sleep, we were ready to dominate Day 2. We set off from our Dublin hotel for Killarney, with a few key stops along the way. Ireland has thousands of killer pubs – the true inspiration for any American bar which calls itself an “Irish pub” – and our first visit to one came two hours into the trip in Portlaoise. I was psyched for my first “official” Irish Coffee – a combo of coffee, Jameson whiskey, and topped with cream – and it didn’t disappoint. Then, almost like it was a movie or something, we chatted with a local poet named Pierce about Irish sports like hurling, “long puck,” and rugby, and how all related to various social classes in Ireland. The bartender even let us take this photo behind the bar … nicest people in the world. 

Then, it was off to the Blarney Castle to “kiss the brick,” as our rad tour guide Dave Yates explained. For those not familiar with the Blarney Stone, read here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blarney_Stone. So Brandi and I trekked our way up the medieval castle (the first one we’d ever seen in person) in its narrow, dark and damp stairwell.

Finally at the top after 100 steps or so, I indeed kissed the brick (Brandi passed – she wasn’t feeling it) like millions have before to, as legend has it, gain the “gift of eloquence.” I gotta say, I’m feeling pretty damn eloquent, so it must’ve worked.

After eating lunch and perusing the Blarney shop, we made our way to the fantastic town of Killarney for dinner, drinks, and a new hotel for the next two nights.

Check back in later for more updates from the Emerald Isle!!