Ireland 8-19>25-09

Arriving to Dublin 8-19-09
At about 5:45 Gordon knocked on the door and was ready to take us just as he said. We made our way to the airport and thanked him for all his kindness and generosity. He dropped us off at our terminal and we were off to Ireland. This was the moment of truth for our packing situation. We had to pack under 20 kilograms for the whole semester because of this flight. The only thing is now we had a tent to deal with. We divided up the parts of the tent throughout each of our bags and went up to the bag check. Grace was first and her pack was exactly 20 kilograms! I went next and mine was 19.8 kilograms, Teresa's weighed in at 20.2 kg and they let her slide and JP's 20.1 kg also made the cutoff! We were clear! To be honest I really didn't think we were going to make the weight requirement. So we waited for our flight then took off to Dublin. From the Airport in Dublin we took a bus to Temple Bar (a street with a bunch of pubs and shops and stuff) where our hostel was located. We found it immediately without any trouble surprisingly. We unloaded our stuff and found a café with internet access. I posted my blog for England and started uploading my pictures from Scotland. Teresa and Grace went off to see the city and the body of St. Valentine. We met back at our room and we all took a long nap. At around 5 Grace and I got up and went to dinner at a pub on Temple Bar. We enjoyed a nice meal and had a Guinness while listening to live music. After that we walked around the city. We went back to our room and found JP and Teresa who just woke up. So they went off to dinner themselves and I took a long shower in our room. We met up with Teresa and JP a little bit later. Teresa was still tired so she stayed in the room while JP Grace and I walked around the city of Dublin and watched the life in the city walking around different pubs and listened to the different groups playing music and stuff. We decided to each get Irish car bombs and gave a toast to our trip in Ireland. We continued roaming around the city and eventually headed back to our room and called it a night.

Dublin to Aran Islands 8-20-09
Ready for another day of travel we packed and ate a quick breakfast. After breakfast we checked out of the hostel and went straight to the bus station where we bought our tickets from Dublin to Galway. So around 9 we loaded up on the bus to go. We drove through the city out to the farmlands. The scenery of Ireland was beautiful. It was about a four hour bus ride across Ireland from the east side the west coast. We passed through pastures of green grass and rolling hills. There were a ton of sheep and cows everywhere. It was so green and lush across the countryside. For miles on end there were these stacked stones that made up walls. The walls surrounded the houses the fields and just scattered all over. We finally made it to Galway and easily found the ticket office to get the ferry to the Aran Islands. We bought our tickets and had some time t spend in Galway as the bus did not depart until 5pm. We had some lunch and walked around the city. I took a nap in the park and then it started to rain really hard really fast so I ran into a store with Teresa and Grace. After the rain died down the three of us went to get some coffee at a café down the street. Once we finished it was about time for us to go. So we met back up with JP and took the bus to the ferry. The hour long ferry ride was rough. The seas were storming. Grace and I went outside to the top of the boat and it was splashing us and the wind was blowing really hard. We ended up calling it quits and went back inside. When I was going down the stairs the wind picked up and took my hat off then a huge wave came over the ship and I got soaked! When we got back inside half the people in the boat were really queasy. We finally made it to Inis Oir where we were going to stay for two nights. We immediately found our hostel and everything went smoothly. This days arrangements were amazingly smooth, the bus to Galway and the ferry and the hostel were all easy to find and we had no hassle with any of them. So we unloaded our stuff and found one of the two local pub on the island. After dinner Grace, JP and I walked on the beach and took some pictures. On our way back the wind was blowing really hard and when I opened my mouth the wind whistled around my lips like a glass bottle. Grace and I were having fun trying to get different tunes to play from the wind through our mouths. After we made it back we got ready for bed and Teresa asked me to tell a story. So the only thing I could think of was to tell the story line of the sci-fi show Battle Star Gallactica and everyone called me a dork. Once they were done listening to me everyone went to sleep.

Aran Islands 8-21-09
On our first morning on Inis Oir we got the luxury of not setting an alarm. We didn't have any obligations or anything we needed to get up for. When I got up I felt well rested and I got ready for the day. Grace JP and I left Teresa with a walkie-talkie for whenever she wanted to get up and meet us. We Left our hostel and explored the island. We walked through a maze of stacked stone walls that covered the island. The town was small so it only took about 5 minutes for us to get away from everything. As we were walking we found ourselves on the beach and explored the tide pool. We sat there and took in the beauty. From there we could see the other Island across the water. We watched the 12 foot waves crash on the rocks and the water flow into the tide pools. We continued along the coast and climbed over all the large stones. When we got a bit further down the coast we could see another Island with huge cliffs. And then out of no where it started to pour rain. We got soaked and the rock got slick so we head back inland. We were getting pretty hungry so we headed back into town. JP and Grace disagreed with the direction of which road to take back so we split off to see who got there first. Grace and I ended up at the market before him and picked up some food. We got a great deal on chicken and pasta that we cooked up at our hostel. We cooked up about 12 chicken breasts which we planned to eat for the next few meals. After lunch we had a chance to check our emails and get online for a little bit. After that Grace and I went to go explore the ruins on the island. We climbed over a few stone walls and found the ruins of the 13th century church built atop the island's hill. We found JP hanging out up in the old castle-like building and showed us some great views he found and how to climb up into the old building. The ruins were on a hill that was on the highest point of the island. We could see everything. We got some great pictures and explored the mossy ruins. After a hopping a few more stone walls and acquiring the company of a local sheep-dog, we climbed the other structures which looked like an old house and another castle-like building. We could see the entire Island clearly and also the giant cliffs of the adjacent island. It was a site to see for sure. I pulled out my binoculars and we all took turns looking out at everything. Later we headed back to our hostel and met up with Teresa. Grace and I had some more chicken and pasta then we went to the pub with JP and Teresa. JP got some dinner and the rest of us got drinks. We played cards for a while and had a great time. After people were tired of card games I did a couple magic tricks and then Grace and I did the old read-the-mind trick by picking cards. We stumped JP and Teresa and had a lot of good laughs. After that we called it a night and relaxed at our hostel. We were fortunate to be able to access the internet once more and talk to family and friends. It was so nice to hear from Marie, Theresa and Courtney. Thank you for keeping in touch!

Cork 8-22-09
This morning we got up packed our things and caught a ferry back to Galway. From Galway we waited at the bus station to catch our 4-hour long bus to Cork. The countryside was once again amazing with endless hills and pastures. Ireland is so green and lush. Once in Cork we had to walk through the city to an information center where they pointed us out on a map how to get to our hotel. We soon found out that our hotel was pretty much right across the street from the bus station! We finally made it to the Gabriel house, which was very comfortable and had many amenities. We unpacked freshened up and got ready for mass. Once we left our hotel we surprisingly passed Michael Mcmahan (a friend from UD) on the way to mass! We made plans to meet up with him after mass and told him where we were staying. After mass we were stopped by a guy from Illinois who was traveling to Edinburgh the next day and we gave him Gordon's number just in case he needed a place to stay. We met up with Mikey and got some dinner in town. After dinner we went back to our hotel and relaxed the rest of the night. JP and Mikey went out to see the Blarney castle and had an adventure of their own.

Cork to London/Heathrow 8-23-09
This morning we took a flight out from Cork to London. Thankfully, the stewardess at the Gabriel house ordered a cab for us the previous night. So we enjoyed a really nice breakfast of eggs, bacon, and toast and collected our things and went to the airport. Throughout the trip we Grace and I have been collecting patches of each country we visit, but Grace never got a chance to get her patch in Ireland so we searched the stores in the airport. Grace found the perfect one. Our flight was quick, or so it seemed to me- I slept through the entire thing so it seemed like nothing. We got to Heathrow, picked up our bags and took a taxi to our hotel which was close to the airport. We unloaded our bags and we all took naps for a couple hours. It was still a little early to eat but we were all starving so we left the hotel searching for a place to eat. We found one pub that served food that early, it was the only pace around because or hotel was near the airport. Once we ate we went back to our hotel and hung out for a while. We flipped through channels on the TV for a while then Grace and I got restless. So we took a walk to a park near the hotel and we sat in the grass and watched the sunset each enjoying a can of Guinness (we packed from Cork, Ireland) and looked back on our trip and were really thankful for our time in the UK.

Heathrow to Rome 8-24-09
Once we got up and were packed and ready the hotel called a cab for us to go to Heathrow airport. Heathrow is a huge airport and we weren’t sure which terminal our flight was taking off from. So our cab dropped us off at the first terminal which had free transportation to any terminal, and he told us that British Airways usually takes off from the 5th terminal. So from there Grace Teresa and I split off from JP because he had to pick up his other luggage he stored during our trip. So we took the underground express to terminal 5 and were blown away. I was amazed at the size of the airport. There was so much activity going on all around. It really surprised me how smooth it was for me to check my bags and get through security for how many people were there. The airport was super efficient and smooth. Grace and I got bumped up to first class because they had to separate us. It was really nice we were served a nice meal and drinks on the flight to Rome. Once we arrived in Rome we got through customs quickly and waited for our bags. Mine came out right away but the girls bags took about an hour to come. It was really weird. When we all got our bags we headed towards the exit and we ran into Stevie (a friend from UD) on our way out! She went with a group to Ireland before hand like us. So we met up with everyone and exchanged a few stories. Then Grace Teresa and I set off to find our way to our hotel. We found a train to Termini (the central station) which was right near our hotel. We took the train to Termini and found our hotel shortly after. We wanted showers but were too hungry so we went out for some italian pizza. We went to a corner shop where we pionted to the pizza we wanted and pointed out how big we wanted our slices. The pizza was superb, while we were eating another friend from UD, Ned saw us and sat with us. He had made plans with JP to meet him but JP was running late. So Ned showed us around the city because he had been in Italy for a little while. We walked around and looked at a few churches then walked down to the coliseum. They were all really cool to see lit up at night. From the coliseum we walked back towards our hotel and ran into JP on the way! So we all went back to our hotel and made plans to meet up to go to campus the next morning.

Arriving to Campus at Due Santi 8-25-09
We enjoyed a complimentary breakfast of a croissant and a cappuccino at a café across the street from our hotel then set off for the metro. We met Ned downstairs and took the orange line to the end where we took a Cotral bus to campus. While we were waiting for the bus the driver flashed his lights and called me over. So I went over to him thinking he was asking me to load up over by where he was parked. And all he did was tell me "I pick up over there not over here!". So I went back really confused because he called me over there, and sat exactly where I was before and after he finished his smoke he pulled up and picked us up. Haha I think he was just trying to get some entertainment for himself or something? So we arrived to campus! We were finally there at our final destination. The place that we would call home for the next few months. The start of a new journey. We walked to the dorms and found our rooms. When I got to my room Kevin was there to greet me. I unpacked and we met up with the girls to explore the place. We went up to one of the balconies and sat there until we had to meet for an orientation meeting. We had a tour of the whole campus then we met in a room to fill out immigration paperwork… After that we celebrated mass with the monsignor and listened to some of our professors welcome us to the program. We were all really excited for what is to come in the next few months and so were they. Once we finished with that we went to the cafeteria for appetizers and some drinks. Then we sat down and were served a 5 course Italian dinner with Italian wine. It was really nice. After dinner Grace and I took a walk around campus and talked about how excited we were and how fortunate we felt for being there. My first of many trips is complete and I am really excited to see what is to come from my journey during my semester in Rome.

Scotland 8-15>18-09

Travel from Cambridge to Edinburgh 8-15-09

I slept soundly and when I woke up I enjoyed a nice continental breakfast offered by the hotel. We lounged around a while packed up our things and took a cab to the train station. We booked our tickets from Cambridge to Edinburgh a couple weeks prior but Teresa had difficulty with the tickets so she ended up on a later train. It didn't seem like an issue at the time until we actually got on our train… We found out that there were two stops in Edinburgh and we weren’t sure which one Teresa was going to get off on. Normally this wouldn’t really be a problem because we had hotels for every place we have been but for Scotland we had nothing booked since every hotel and hostel was packed because of the Edinburgh festivals. So during our train ride we thought up a bunch of different plans of how we were going to deal with this problem. We ended up choosing to get off at the main station and wait for her there and if she didn't get off I would take the train to the next station and meet up with everyone later if I found her. Despite the worry the train ride was really pleasant. The scenery of Scotland was truly amazing. There were tons of pastures and fields and hills. I was really excited to be spending time there. There were also some interesting people on the train. There were two men in front of me talking about the good old times when they were in there firms supporting their 'football' teams, and all the craziness surrounding that lifestyle. All I could think of was the movie Green Street Hooligans and was hit with a reality check that that stuff actually happens. Anyways the ride was finally over and we were crossing our fingers for Teresa. The train that she was on came and we were waving our arms and shouting on the platform. She got off! She had no idea that we were worried of losing her so she was really confused at why we were so excited to see her. From there we left the station and flagged down a cab and asked him where the nearest campsite was. We took the cab and the driver explained different sites to us as we went along and told us about the giant festival going on at the time. There were tons of people in Edinburgh for the international festival. This explained why we couldn't find a place to stay. The driver was also making fun of our 'accents' and told us that we had to learn how to speak Scottish. He said "To speak Scottish you must lerrrn to rrrole yourrr rrrr's" we all tried and failed at a good Scottish accent. We arrived at the campsite outside the city. It was perfect. We paid for our spot pitched our tent and went down to the pub up the road from the camp. We had a great meal and tried some of the Scottish brewed ale. We finished our dinner and settled down at our campsite for the night.

1st day in Edinburgh 8-16-09

The next morning we got up and took the bus into town. Edinburgh was an amazing city. It was almost split into three eras with its architecture. It had a very medieval feel with Victorian influence and also had a modern twist to it. We were on a trek to find a catholic church to go to mass, it was poring rain and we had no idea where it was. Our taxi driver told us of a St. Mary's so we asked all around and searched for it. We got directions at the city's information center and found it. Mass didn't start for an hour so we hung out in the church until then. Mass was nice, it was pretty traditional and they also had a full blown out choir who sang old hymns and Latin chants. Once mass was over we were desperate to find food we were starving. The sky cleared up and the sun was out. I picked up some McDonalds and we walked the city. With all the festivities there was a lot of activity on the street. Bagpipe players, jugglers, dancers, sword swallowers the whole nine yards. We walked up the city to Edinburgh castle which was above the whole city on a hill. We made it to the top and looked out over the whole city from the castle that once reigned it. Grace found a ticket on the ground and tried to get in but it ended up being a senior ticket and they wouldn't let her go through. We continued roaming around the city enjoying the street performers and walking through the stores and stuff. We stopped by the information center and checked out the different sites around. Grace and I decided to take a one day tour of the Scottish Highlands! Teresa and JP decided to take a train to Sterling castle and Dune Castle(where Monty Python was filmed)After that it got late and we head back to camp.

The Highlands 8-17-09

Grace and I had to get up extra early this morning to make it on our bus to tour the Highlands. We gathered our things for the day and headed in to the city. We made it to the tour van and met our driver, Derrick. There were about thirteen of us in the van from all over the world (Italy, Russia, Taiwan, Switzerland). The twelve hour journey promised us views of most of the country side of Scotland starting in Edinburgh and continuing as far north as Loch Ness . About forty five minutes into the drive we passed Sterling castle and the William Wallace monument. They were a site to see: a giant castle and huge monument standing in the middle of the country. As we continued on, our tour guide told us all about Scottish history and stories of different people. Our first stop was for some coffee and a bathroom break at a small store/café in the countryside. There was a highland 'coo' there that everyone was taking pictures next to. We continued on and watched the change of the country side from the lowlands which are very fertile and have a lot of farms and agriculture to the highlands that have a lot of grass and trees and acidic soil. Our first scenic stop was Loch Lamont. We got off the bus and walked our by the Loch and looked out at the beautiful mountains of the highlands. The tour guide told us that the Scottish clans lived in the highlands and roamed the lands. He also told us that this particular Loch was apart of the lands of the Macgregor clan. I got really excited about this because that is the clan my ancestors were apart of. We continued on, and as we went the tour guide told us about all the clans and their cultures. He also told us along the way which clan lived in the particular parts. The tour was really fascinating and beautiful. The Scotch highlands are the most beautiful places I have ever seen. We continued to stop along the way to take in the beauty of the mountains and hills and waterfalls and lakes. It was almost overwhelming. We went through Glencoe, the scene of the massacre of the MacDonald clan by the Campbells. Then we continued through Fort William which was the beginning of the 'Great Glen' (a giant valley between the mountains), and ended up at Loch Ness. We stopped at Loch Ness for a little over an hour and Grace and I enjoyed our packed lunch right on the water. After lunch we walked through the little town that had boat locks running right through it. I thought it was ironic how there were locks at the Loch. From Loch Ness we made our way back to Edinburgh taking a different route through hills covered in purple heather. The purple rolling hills were unlike anything I have ever seen. We stopped in a Victorian town (Pitlochry) where the Queen takes a vacation once a year to have a personal retreat from her public life. Grace and I enjoyed a scoop of ice cream and headed back to the bus which took us back to the city. On the journey home the bus driver took a liking to Grace and I and started telling us his life story. He found out that we were camping and offered us to stay at his house for a night and we politely declined but thanked him for the great tour of the highlands. We roamed Edinburgh, found dinner and headed back to camp where we found Teresa and JP and asked them about their trip to Sterling and Doune castle. This day was another highlight of this trip. The highland country of Scotland was one of my favorite places I have ever seen.

The Gordon day 8-18-09

We slept in a little bit this morning and when we got up we had to pack up our camp. We had a hostel booked for this night because we had our flight out to Ireland the next day. So we took the bus to our Hostel and went in. This hostel was the only one we could find online. Even though we had to share a room with 14 other people we were all really excited to be able to sleep in a bed for the first time in a while. We waited for the receptionist and when she arrived we showed her our reservation. Unfortunately we had been double booked by expedia and they didn't have room for us… The woman made a few calls and told us she found a place for us for very cheap. We said we would take anything because we had no where else to go. She told us to go around the corner by the coffee shop and an old man about 85 years old would come to meet us. After about ten minutes a car pulled up and Gordon stepped out. He shook our hands and immediately showed us his comment book from others who had stayed with him. Guests from all over the world had been rescued by Gordon in similar situations. He was a very friendly man and began a tour of Edinburgh right away for us and stopped at a cathedral for us to look at. He gave us time to walk around and he bought all of us some post cards to remember the church. We were blown away by his generosity and kindness. He told us that he had an empty flat in the city where we could stay for the night. He took us to his apartment loft to drop off our bags and offered us the opportunity to take a shower and have some tea at his house. We couldn't object. So we unloaded our big packs at the apartment and took our daypacks and he drove us to his house. He told us that normally he would have had us stay there with him but he was already hosting a family from Nepal. We took showers and he made us coffee and tea and sat with us and told us about his life as a traveling oil rig engineer and how he adopted three girls from the Philippines and got them through college. Gordon was an amazing person. After tea he walked us down the street where we could find a nice dinner and offered to drive us to the city center after dinner. All the restaurant people knew him because he brings different people there every day. We enjoyed a nice meal and he met us at the end and drove us into the city and pointed out some of his favorite pubs. He also offered to take us back to the apartment if we were back at his house by 11, and to take us to the airport in the morning for 15 pounds. We graciously accepted his offers and enjoyed a nice night out on the town. We walked down the 'Royal Mile' starting at Edinburgh castle and walked down to the waterfront where there was a dormant volcano called Arthurs Seat. We hiked up to the top and looked out over all of Edinburgh as the sun set. All four of us stood up and shouted "FREEDOM!" at the top of our lungs, in honor of William Wallace and a great trip to Scotland. Our voices echoed back from the city- it was a really cool moment. After that we hiked back down the hill and found a church offering free tea and coffee, and we sat and listened to them sing Christian songs as we enjoyed our beverages. On our way back we could hear the Scottish Military 'Tatoo' bagpipe march at the castle and watched the fireworks shoot off at the finale of the salute. Then we hopped a bus to Gordon's. We found Gordon at his house waiting for us, and he drove us to the apartment. The kind old man made sure we were all set at his place and said he would pick us up at 6 a.m. for our flight at 8 a.m.- After he dropped us off at the apartment he said he was going to the airport to pick up two more people at the airport who needed a place to stay. His kindness continued to blow us away. As he left he told us "I just want to make sure that everyone knows that Gordon hosted them to the best of his ability." So after a night that almost seemed hopeless for shelter we slept comfortably on our own apartment thanks to Gordon.

England 8-11>14-09

London 8-11-09

After much anticipation the day finally arrived to leave for Europe. My parents and Annie dropped me off at Sky Harbor airport where we met the Ballors for our final good bye. With much excitement Grace and I checked our bags, got through security, and waited for our plane. We took a 10 hour flight to London on British Airways. The service was great. We all had our own personal touch-screen tv to choose whatever we wanted to watch. So I watched the new Star Trek movie which my mom has been raving about, and I really enjoyed it. After the movie I took my brother's advice and slept the rest of the way to prevent jet-lag. When Grace and I arrived the plane was to big to go into a normal terminal so they bussed everyone on the plane to the customs/baggage claim area. Once we got our bags we went straight to the metro and took it to downtown London to find our hotel and our other friends. We got off of our stop and walked for a while and ended up having to ask directions to the hotel. We happened to ask a real-estate agent who knows the area really well and gave us really good directions. We made it to our hotel and the manager said that Teresa and JP had come by earlier this morning but it was too early for them to go in the room. So he gave us the keys and we unloaded our stuff and got situated, and took a quick nap. Teresa and JP showed up a little bit later and we all relaxed a little more then went out. We first stopped by a Pub were JP and I enjoyed a two for one burger deal and a beer, and the girls had a meat pie with a beer as well. We then took the Subway to Buckingham Palace. It was a really neat sight. The Iron fences laid with gold and the stationary royal guards were really cool to see. From there we went off on the subway and went to see Big Ben, Westminster Abby and the "Eye of London". All of which were amazing. We then took off to the London Tower and the London Bridge and called it a day. We headed back to the hotel and got ready for bed and printed our bus passes for our trip to Dover!

Dover 8-12-09

We all woke up around 7:30 and went downstairs for a nice breakfast of fried eggs, beans and toast. Once we finished we went back up to our room and started to pack up. We checked out and set off for Dover. On our way to the bus station I stopped by a hardware store and had to purchase a hack-saw because of a luggage lock that appeared on my bag which I did not have a key for and have no idea how it got there. It happened to be locking the pocket with my orthotics… Knowing I was going to be walking a lot it was worth paying 3 pounds for a saw to cut it off. After that we took the subway to the main bus station and waited for our buss to Dover. We took the bus thro

ugh the country side stopped in Canterbury and ended up in Dover about three hours later. Along the way there was about a mile stretch that smelled so foul, it was some sort of dairy farm or something the bus reeked because all the windows were open because there was no air-conditioning. It wasn't too bad though it was just a scent to remember. Once we arrived to Dover we had to take another bus closer to our hotel. We really had no idea where our hotel was we just had an address so we asked a guy at the bus station who looked it up for us. We got directions and walked to our hotel which was right on the coast. We unpacked our stuff took a little nap then went off to explore around. The Grounds around the hotel

were really nice. It was connected to a big green patch of grass and a walkway down to the beach. We made our way down to the beach and just took the beauty in for a while. It was slightly overcast with a small breeze. The water was pretty calm splashing against the rocks. Instead of sand like I am use to the beach was covered in small and large rocks that were super smooth from the waves of the water. After a w

hile we walked down the pier and found a fish and chips shop. These fish and chips had to be some of the best I have ever had! They were so fresh and so huge. They filled up a big basket of fries covered them in salt and vinegar then put the huge battered fish on top. It was amazing. We ate our fish on the beach and head back to the hotel. Later on we went to explore the city. We found a small fair going on but non of us really wanted to spend our cash so we went on. We stopped by a few pubs but never went in. We ended up stopping by a store and picking up some food and stuff and went back to the hotel where we relaxed the rest of the evening.

Dover 8-13-09

Grace and I got up around eight and secured our bus tickets to get to Cambridge. Later we got out our peanut butter and jelly we bought from the store the previous night and made breakfast. The hotel breakfast was about 9 pounds which comes out to be about 15 bucks so we improvised and had a great inexpensive meal. We then got ready for the day. So Grace, Teresa, JP, and I took the bus back to Dover (our hotel was in Folkestone about 20 min away by bus) Once we got off the bus we treked up the hill to Dover castle. Grace didn't really want to go in so she went off while the rest of us paid the entrance fee to get in. The Castle of Dover was an amazing structure! The lady behind me in line was saying that the reason why it wasn't bombed in WWII was because Hitler wanted to use it as a stronghold. Once I got inside the walls I could see why. It was a multilayer structure with thick stonewalls. I went up into the archer's tower where it had a series of long diagonal windows for the archers to attack. It was really cool. I kept along the perimeter and it had about 50 posts for cannons along the walls of the outer rim of the castle. It also had pads of cement put there during WWII for antiaircraft guns. As I went deeper into the castle I saw more and more the grandness of the structure. I climbed up one of the

main towers of the castle and could see the entire city of Dover and also the white cliffs of Dover. I could also see France int the distance across the English channel! Once we got out of the castle we met back up with Grace and she told us of her adventure hiking up the hill through a sheep pasture and seeing the cliffs of Dover. From there she lead us up the road where she came from to the sheep pasture. We got an amazing view of the Dover castle. We continued hiking up the road dodging the cars driving on the "wrong" side of the road. Along the way we picked crab apples and blackberries to snack on. We finally made it to the cliffs. What an amazing site that was. We took a ton of pictures and set ourselves down on the side of the cliff for a picnic. We whipped out our PB&J and made some more sandwiches. While we were sitting there I pulled out my ipod put it on full blast and played "Cliffs of Dover" by Eric Johnson WHILE ON THE CLIFFS OF DOVER! (what a great moment-haha). We all took a nap after our lunch and listened to the waves crash beneath us. From our spot we could see a trail that led down the side of the cliff to a small beach. We decided to take it on and explore down the side. We made it down the trail and it lead us to some old WWII wartime tunnels inside the side of the cliff. I walked though them all and there were little century posts with rotted out steal bunker type rooms. It was really cool. After the tunnels we went down to the beach where JP got into his bathing suit and took a dip in the English channel. We could clearly see France in the distance, it was just amazing. We had a couple hours until the sun went down so we made our way up the cliff and back to the city. We walked all around looking for our bus station. We stopped in a few stores along the way and JP picked up a UK flag as a souvenir. We made it to our buss and head back to Folkestone. Where we had dinner and drinks and went back to the hotel. This was a great day well spent.

Travel from Dover to Cambridge 8-14-09

The next morning I was woken up by the birds outside. At about 6:30 a.m. they made a lot of noise and I couldn't fall back asleep so I packed up my stuff took a shower and posted my pictures online. We had to check out by eleven and our bus was around one to go to Cambridge. So we got our stuff together and checked out of the hotel. We found out that our host in Scotland went to the hospital and couldn't have us anymore, the Brekan's cottage is being used and all the hostels online are completely booked! So Grace and I found a campsite and decided to search for a tent. We went all over town and couldn't find one anywhere… So JP and I dropped our bags off with the girls at the bus station while we continued to search the city. We stopped by a salvation army and they didn't have one but a man in the store told us he knew of a camping store called MASH. So he lead us all the way there (I was a little wary about this, I thought he might try to rob us or something so I was on my guard) In the end he lead us successfully to a camping store. We were really thankful. We found our tent and got some camping gear. We made it back to the bus station and left for London to make our connection to Cambridge. Unfortunately along the way we ran into some serious traffic and our bus was late to London… We missed our connection and they made us purchase another ticket. It was a real mess but we made it to Cambridge and got to our hotel which was really nice. Once we unpacked our bags we went for a search for food. We walked straight for two hours and couldn't find anywhere serving food. We eventually found a grocery market and got some food. We took it back to the hotel and went to bed after eating to get some good rest before our journey to Scotland.