Quickly hi – We’ve returned from Scotland, spent a few days wandering around the countryside in Chesterfield and are in Wales right now. I’m about to go play on a beach, so I’ll say hi more later.

We drove into Edinburgh last night to the sight of bonfires everywhere and fireworks going off all around the city. Yay Bonfire night! I wish we had been able to actually sit and watch them instead of being on a stinky coach. As we walked across the North bridge to our hostel, the fireworks were going off behind Edinburgh Castle and it was quite a cool sight. Edinburgh seems to be a neat city, although we’re only going to have today in the city because we head off on a tour of somewhere in Scotland to be revealed at a later date tomorrow then its back down to Chesterfield. Now, you ask, why fireworks and bonfires? I know Dad can tell me because he always knows that kind of thing. Whether anyone else can is the question. How well do you know your English history? Let me know the answer.

If you need a hint, see here.

For the answer (but guess first!!!), here

So we arrived in Dublin about 5 days ago and hung out there for awhile. Guiness really does taste better in Dublin… at the end of a tour of the plant and learning how they make it and then becoming an honourary apprentice. Okay, so the tour was lame, but the free beer at the end was good. We also checked out the cathedrals in Dublin – Christ Church (where Strongbow, the Norman warrior is buried and where the North wall leans out and has for over 500 years or so, and where all the Irish church treasury is) and St. Patick’s (where Jonathan Swift was Dean and where he is buried) and the Book of Kells at Trinity College (as well as other ancient illuminated manuscripts and one of the largest old book collections in the world. They had to raise the roof in the 1800s to make room for them all). We mailed some postcards from THE postoffice on O’Connell St. where the 1916 Easter Rebellion started from (bought the stamps from there too come to think of it) and went to the National Museum (where they have a bunch of “bog men” and lots and lots of ancient Irish/Celtic jewelry).
Today we took the train down to Killarney, county Kerry, in the south west. Its green like Ireland is supposed to be, and the highest point in Ireland is visible from here. Tomorrow we are taking a tour around the Ring of Kerry which is supposed to have some magnificent scenery and stuff. You’ll see pictures later I hope.

I know, you’re thinking “More beaches, when will she stop talking about beaches? Its winter!”
Well, these were not sit in the sun beaches. Natalie and I spent the last 2 nights at Bayeux, a small villiage in Normandy about 10km from the D-Day beaches. After lots of drama and frusteration with not being able to get out to the Canadian sites (Juno Beach), we ran into a family from outside Ottawa who we shared a room with in our hostel in Paris for 1 night. They had rented a car and we asked them if we could go with them to Juno this morning before we caught the train back to Paris. So this morning we drove out to Arromanches, where the Allies built a harbour using concrete blocks they towed over from England, then over to Juno Beach at Courselliers sur Mer and walked along the beach (tide was high unfortunately so we didn’t have the same look as it would have when they landed), saw some pill boxes and then went through the Juno Beach Museum and learned about contempory Canada. It was a pretty good little display and there were lots of people going through it. We finished it off by visiting the Canadian War Cemetary before catching the train (the first time… but thats a story for another time. Suffice to say that Natalie still has her camera) back to Paris. Tomorrow we fly out for Dublin – back to English (or some form thereof) for the rest of our trip. The whole trip out to Normandy was a moving experience, especially since I know some people who landed at Juno on D-Day.

Paris is just how I thought it would be. The buildings look like they are supposed to, there are cafes like there are supposed to be, and there are pigeons everywhere. It is grey but not raining. Notre Dame was amazing as was Ste Chapelle, you can see the Eiffel Tower from just about everywhere and we have a view of Sacre-Coeur from our hostel. What more could I ask for? I love it, I am looking forward to strolling down more streets tomorrow in the hopes of seeing more wonderful things.