Made it back to Dublin.  Boy I hate the roads here.   So many roundabouts!  Arrgghh!

Went to the wax museum.  Was ok but needs some TLC and some updating.

Texted the Moonies and they were in Dublin as well.  Made arrangements to meet up for dinner.  We went to The Brazen Head.  The oldest pub in in Ireland.  Food and service was good and company was great.  This was a great way to spend the last night in Dublin.

We woke up to rain, rain and more rain.  What a day to be our last day in Ireland.

We made it to the rental drop off and got totally soaked because they didn't have proper shelter that actually blocked the rain.

So like Vancouver the airport has a lot of walking.  Unlike Vancouver it does not have any of the flat moving floors that speed up your journey.  There is also a lack of seating so there were a lot of people having to stand around.  So they are loading our plane and after a bit we notice that people that had went through were out on the tarmac walking to the plane.  It was pouring rain still.  We are taking a large plane and there is no walkway to use.   REALLY!  I couldn't believe it.

The plane is not full at all so I asked the steward if I could move therefore giving both Jacob and myself more room.  He says no problem but it would have to be after take off.  In the mean time I see other people switching around.  Then they make an announcement saying they can't take off till everyone is in their assigned seats.  Some people move back but others stay including a guy who moved from his two seats  on the left side of the plane to the three empty middle ones.  The one that I was going to move to but he doesn't just use one or two seats he lays across all three.  Not impressed.  Figures, that's just my luck.  After take off the guy in the three seats in front of us moves and I jump at the chance and get those seats.  Yippee!   8 hours of arm and leg room for both Jacob and I.  NICE.....

Plane from Whitehorse was delayed but did arrive so although we were late getting in we did not have to stay over in Vancouver.

Ralph made a wonderful steak and mushroom dinner and we all had lots of talks and sharing of stories.  It was 4:30 am Ireland time so I kept nodding off.  It was 5:30 pm our time but I had to head to bed.

So we are back safe and sound.  My thanks to friends, family and mostly Jacob for making this trip so enjoyable.  Can't wait for the next one!

Wax Museum

You go Jacob

My lovely Dance moves

Our last supper in Dublin with the Moonies

It's 7:40 am and I have been up since around 7:15.  We stayed in the parking lot of an "Apple" gas station.  It's a truck stop and a huge building that houses a Burger King, Subway, The Bakewell, Costa, and a convenience shop that also sells booze.  Really clean, great bathrooms; I know that may sound weird but after using as many public bathrooms as we have on this trip, you learn to appreciate  these things; and it even has a shower.  This place is great.  Wish they had them all along our trip.  Would have been less stress about where we were going to park at night.  Oh and they have wifi too!  Hee hee, hence my post early this am.  I am sitting inside with a vanilla latte.  Haven't had that in some time now considering I am usually too hot.  Looks today to be another cloudy and damp, if not rainy, day.

Jacob is still snoozing in the car but we are not in a rush.  We have all day to drive into Dublin which is approximately 2 hours away.  We have a hotel booked for tonight so that we can get everything organized and packed for the flight home.

Nothing really planned for today.  Maybe some last shopping.

Yesterday we went to Bunratty Castle and Folk Park.  The Castle was closed because it was after 4 and they have evening banquets there, which would have been very cool to take in if we had done our research and planned for it, however the folk part was a little disappointing.   I just felt that some of the items displayed in the houses seemed out of time and place.  Now, I know that I really have no basis on which to state that but it just seemed weird.  I was also under the impression that it was a "working type" village however there were only two women on site and one was talking to a family about local activities and school because she seemed to know them and she completely ignored anyone coming into the area and between them they actually blocked it from viewing.  Oh well, moving on I guess.

I have learned today though that Jacob seems ok with small short ponies.  He actually stood close to the fence to view them.  And I learned the other day that he would like to pet a cow.  I'm not sure but the cows he was looking at were huge.  .........?  Guess I'll have to take him to a petting farm somewhere as long as there are no tall horses.....lol.

This cold has caused me to lose my voice, which Jacob says is good cause then I can't yell at him, but it also means he has to do the communicating and we all know how much he loves that!  Kind of funny really.  I could really do without the cough though.  Not to jinx it but things seem to be getting a little better today.  Still coughing just different kind of cough.  Voice is still rough.  Sure has made it difficult for singing.  I love to sing but don't have the best voice.  Probably saved Jacob from an uncountable number of hours of ear bleeding singing to our limited song list on his phone.  So what I am getting at is next time we need a bigger play list.......hee hee.

So mom, Marilyn didn't really have time to visit too much due to the business of her bar.  Her and Mike just go, go, go!  She said to make sure, when you come, to make it around late April early May or after August.   Then she will have time.  So get planning so you can get your tickets booked.

Church at Bunratty Folk Village

Beginning of our car sleeping nights

Aillwee Cave

Aillwee Cave area

One more r and it could have been mine

If only

At the toy soldier shop

Our new male model

Dinner at Spillane's Bar

Mom, looks like your old machine

Last night in our car cocoon 

Another view of our last car cocoon night

I've lost track of days now.  We haven't had access to WiFi for a few days and it makes it difficult to remember what to write when I do.  Now that I think about it though I could have done it in a word program and copied and pasted it.  Something to remember for next time.

We spent a couple days visiting with relatives Marilyn and Mike Spillane.   Marilyn is my mom's cousin.  Marilyn and Mike were so welcoming and accommodating for folks they had never met before.   I thank them ever so much for giving us a pillow to lay our heads on and a place to eat.

We learned that two of the new Star Wars films were filmed just a few short hours away from where they live.  Jacob and I took a drive around the peninsula through Connor Pass and then along the coast line.  We stopped at the ferry area to the Blasket Islands.  Marilyn sent us here and it was very beautiful.  Ironically the landscape and the islands looked a lot like the ones in the movie the shallows......now I know it was not done at this location however it was kind of spooky!

So Jacob and I spent 3 nights in a row in the car.  We were lucky enough to find areas to park for the night.  The car was like a little cocoon.  Really quite comfy I think although Jacob might say otherwise.

It was definitely great to get back to our own schedule.   No more major cramping in my calves.  Jacob doesn't have that "mom you are going to be left behind" look on his face anymore so he can stop stressing.  Yay!  We have both learned that we prefer to do things our way, when we want.  That is not to say that we hated the London part of the trip.  We made some new friends, the Moonies, and visited some pretty cool places.  And there is a lot to be said for having specific guides for the areas you go to because you really do get far more information from them than you ever would just going on your own.  But.....large group.....not really our thing......or perhaps it was just this group, who knows......perhaps a better leader would have made a huge difference.

Our vacation is coming to an end and I am happy and sad.  I think next time it would be really nice to go to one or two places and spend 4 or 5 days there.  Both Jacob and I really enjoyed our couple days in Edinburgh and it was very comforting going back to the Abbey a few times rather than somewhere new every day.  Our world also centred around trying to get wifi so that we could keep in touch with those at home as well as planning out our next few days of our journey.  Having said that it will be nice to be back in our own beds not living out of a suitcase but along with that comes work.  Oh well, got to make the best of it and be thankful for the time we had.

Capturing the moon at Castlegregory

Jacob missed it so I had to catch it!

Connor Pass

It was super windy at Connor Pass

Found this little snail on one of the rock walls.

Totally looks like a person, also looks like a view in the movie the Shallows.

Dinner at Spillane's Bar

Bunratty Castle

Bunratty Castle

Another day, another spent pound.  Wow, doesn't take long for your purse to get lighter but my suitcase doesn't seem to be getting heavier.  Not sure where it is all going.  Definitely not into adult drink!

Went to a theatre performance called "Kinky Boots".  Long story short, it has cross dressers in it (M to F) and I thought it was a hoot.  It had a moral to it's story as well as humour and drama.  Would definatly recommend seeing it.  Put me to remembering Patrick Swayze in "To Wong Foo from Julie Newmore".

Long night and even longer trip and walk back to the hotel.  My feet have swollen horribly and I look like I sausage toes.  It's actually very uncomfortable and sore.   Why we can't be using the bus more is beyond me.  We paid for a week pass for all forms of public transit, bus, subway, train and for some reason our guide doesn't want to overwhelm the buses with our group so he is making us walk everywhere.  Now with the amount of walking, sweating and limited eating I am doing, you would think the pounds, get it ha ha, would be dropping off but I do not believe that to be the case!  And some would say "Errin....you can't drink that much and expect it to not make a difference."  The problem is, I haven't been able to partake that much anyway because of driving the first week, late nights and kids the second week, and driving again this third week.  I forgot my dd at home.

Leaving London to go to the Warner Brothersto go to the Harry Potter tour.  This was very interesting.  They had pieces from the original set as well as information on how they made things work.  Only problem is that I ran out of time.

We stayed at another college university dorm.  Each of us had our own room.  A nice change however, Carolyn has now given me her cold and I am sick.  I have a fever and a very sore throat.  Thanks Carolyn! Just want to go to bed and sleep.  But, I already told Jacob I would wash a pair of his shorts so that has to get done first.  Problem is, I forgot them rolled up in the towel before I went off to sleep so they weren't dry for the am.  Woops!  Well, he has clean shorts for the next day.

The next day we toured around Bath and then went to visit the only Roman Bath left.  It was pretty neat.  At the end of the Bath Museum tour thing you got to taste the water.  It is supposed to have healing properties and people drink it all the time.  It was also warm when drinking it.  Kind tasted like a cross between Takhini Hot Springs and Liard Hot Springs.   Not that I would normally drink those waters but it does get on your lips.  I was really hoping for the miracle cold cure but it is now two days later and I am still sick.

From Bath we went to Stonehenge.   This was the first day I could really go my speed so it was really nice.

Jacob and I ate here.

Our trip buddies the Moonless and Gills

Harry Potter 

Jacob trying to leave home for school

Harry Potter 

Harry Potter 

Roman Bath

Stonehenge 

Checkout was 11 but we still hadn't got a car booked or a room in Dublin.  Arrgghh!  Why it has to be so complicated is beyond me.  Jacob called down for am11:30 checkout but that still wasn't enough time so we headed down and locked up our luggage.  The hotel is kindly holding it until we pick it up at 10:30 in the evening. Then we spent the next ago using 45 min in the closed restaurant area connected to WiFi trying to get it done.  Hotel is booked but the car seems complicated.  Weird stuff with the insurance end of it.  Just trying to rob us blind I say. 

Off we go to toot around Glasgow.  We went to the Tenement house, which we walked to, as it was one of those places that was included in our 3 day pass we got.  Quite possibly wouldn't have gone here but I am really glad we did.  It was very interesting.  It gave a really good picture of life at that time. The women who owned it didn't throw anything away, similar to a modern day hoarder. No Ralph, I am not talking about myself, however, without her keeping all that she did, a piece of history would have been lost.  Just think of that next time you try to have me get rid of some boxes.... lol.

After that we walked about in the shopping district.... and it started to rain.  Of course, we left our coats in the suitcases, cause that's a good place for them, so we ran like banshees back to a store that had umbrellas.  Then off to the Lego store, ya for Jacob, not so much for me as I was dying of thirst.  I tottled off to find a cold passion fruit bubble tea. This is essentially a fruit tea over ice like starbucks (Starbucks is better) but it has these weird round balls of liquid flavored syrup like what you can get at the frozen yogurt places.  Interesting for sure and it quenched my thirst.

Now for the movie...... we saw the BFG.....Jacob couldn't wait.  nice theatres but expensive.  Movie was good and it burned up just over two hours.  Dinner was next at a Chinese Buffett.  Food was ok.  We decided to go to the bus station early as we didn't have anything else to do. Periodically we could pick up WIFI because some of the fancier more expensive busses had it on them.

The seats were none to big and the bus was full.  Hard to get much for sleep but managed a few winks  We arrived at the London bus station about an hour late so we were worried about missing the crew that was flying in today. Shouldn't have worried because they were delayed at the airport. Both Jacob and I are pretty much out of clean clothes. We looked in Glasgow and London and apparently hotels do no have the facilities for laundry like in Canada..... well that is damn inconvenient ey!!!  Canada wins in the services and facilities department.  Laundromats or Launderettes as they are called here are also in short supply.  So weird.  I can't imagine that everyone has a machine.  Well we did find one after making it to the hotel.  Got a hold of the group and they figured they would be a couple hours so off we went with our dirty clothes.  35 minutes we get a text saying they are 20 minutes out, holy crap, no there is no time to dry the clothes.  Called the taxi which was to be 5-10 and it ended up to be 25 minutes.  Now we don't know if we will miss the group.  We make it to the hotel and there they are.  Just finishing putting the luggage away and ready to head out.  We dump our wet laundry and join the group.

Well, it has been non-stop from there.  My feet are so swollen that my toes look like little mini sausages.  Frightening!  Am also now sporting two lovely blisters, one on the outside edge of my left big toe and one on the second toe.  By the second day I thought I might have to get my rings cut off because my hands were so swollen.  I am writing this blog while hanging my feet over the edge of the tub and submerging them in cold water.  Pretty sure I can't feel my left foot anymore but am not sure if that is due to the fact that it is cold or because all the circulation has been cut off due to the swelling. 

We've done quit a few things over the last few days but honestly, I can say that I think I missed a portion of it from watching the ground as I walk/run/stumble to keep up.  These folks walk fast and I am dealing with feet issues as well as calf issues.  Feels like I have a Charlie horse in my right calf as soon as I try to walk quick.

Nice refreshing "lemonade" drink!



Water tank for toilet at Tenement House

Toilet at Tenement House



Sewing machine at Tenement House



Cooking stove at Tenement House



Look kids, Big Ben...Parliament....lol





London Bridge



Jacob, Carolyn, Me



New action figure at the toy store



One of many very small and smelly alleys

On the Eye

The Eye again

What a great son



Dream jar from BFG



Ahh!

Late bus ride back to the hotel