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Northern Ireland

Tuesday 25^th October

 Leigh and I flew into Belfast on an Easyjet flight from London. As usual I packed way too many snacks for the very short flight. Whenever I fly a budget airline that doesn’t provide drink and food, my mind seems to go into a panic and I buy a deluge of the nearest junk available.

We wandered around the airport carpark for a bit trying to find a car rental place, but alas we could see it from afar but we were on the wrong side of the big fence and couldn’t be bothered dragging our luggage to get to it. Back inside the terminal we found a designated phone for the car company and reserved a car to be picked up a few days later from the another airport in town.  

Caught the shuttle bus into town and were dropped off at some nondescript place. Once we made our way to the main street we stopped to get out our map and figure out where we had to go. Within 2 seconds of the map seeing the light of day we had our first run in with Irish hospitality as a guy walking past noticed the map and stopped to see if we needed any help. He pointed us in the direction of our YHA hostel and we were on our way.

The hostel was actually pretty good and upon making our way to our room I spied the all important internet computers (I’m a nerd what can I say).

No one else was in the room so we took the two bottom bunks. Shortly after though a couple arrived and were forced to take the two top bunks mwahaha.

Of course, they were Australians. We asked if they wanted to do anything together but they seemed a bit odd and hesitant at our friendliness. In the end Leigh and I just decided to go find a pub and get some grub.

Went for a walk and stumbled across a pub called ‘The Empire‘ which I had read about somewhere. Got some drinks, ordered a lasagna and had a merry old time.

Afterwards we walked around for a bit and came across the Botanic Gardens, though closed, and around the corner we found the beautifully lit up Queen Victoria University.

Further up the road we found a sign pointing towards Friar Bush’s Cemetery. This sounded interesting but alas, this was also closed. We peered through the gate into what looked like a spooky, little place and spotted what looked like a keeper in Ye Ole Victorian garb. Suddenly a hand grabbed my arm in an attempt to be frightful. I turned around and a man now standing before me enquired,

“Are you here for the tour?”

Not really something I expected to be asked outside a quaint little cemetery but the guy said that there would be a tour starting here in about half an hour and indicated (we think) in a subtle manner that we could tag along. Score!

Walked up the street to waste some time before heading back to find a bus load of screaming brats gathering outside the cemetery gates.

Leigh and I made a subtle attempt to blend in, as though we were part of the group, as we were herded through the gates. Still got a few weird looks though, but hey! What they going to do?

A guide up front started talking about the history of the place and pointed to a big mound of dirt behind us covered in overgrown weeds. It was a mound because it was a mass grave full of plague affected unfortunates. Nice!

The tour was catered for the kiddies in the form of a smoke machine giving a nice foggy effect to the place and ghouly characters wandering around in time with the stories being told. Every now and then one would jump out of no where to the blood curdling screams of tweenies. Even when the ones behind could obviously see what was going to happen, they still screamed.

Free tour over we wandered back to the hostel. In the spirit of things (hehe get it? Spirit) I had grabbed a long piece of grass and tapped Leigh’s far shoulder with it. I scared him good :D

 

Thursday 26^th October

 Today we organised a black cab tour to check out the areas of political unrest in the cities suburbs.  Being the friendly souls we are, we asked the odd couple if they’d like to join but due to their OTT budget constraints they eventually declined.

Organised with front reception for the tour and within 20 minutes we had a giant Irishman arriving at reception for us.

The tour was really good though I was a bit miffed to find the cab was white and not the promised black. We sat in the back and the driver had a microphone which connected to a two-way speaker in the back. He told us all about the IRA, Protestant/Catholic problems, the time of “The Troubles” etc as we made our way up to the Shankhill Road (Protestant) area. Here we were shown all the political murals depicting balaclava’d men with machine guns and the paintings of people murdered by the IRA (Irish Republican Army) or UFF (Ulster Freedom Fighters). 

We were then shown the Peace Wall over near Falls Road (Catholic area) which unlike its Berlin friend, is still here for a purpose. The wall divides the Protestant and Catholic areas and at night a checkpoint is still closed so no one can cross over.

Our last stop was the ‘Solidarity Wall’ with murals mainly dedicated to peoples/revolutionaries inspired by or with connections to Irish Republicanism.

We were then dropped back off in the middle of town. 

From here we checked out the pretty Town Hall with its statue of Queen Victoria out the front. I then laughed at the ‘Mace’ shop across the road which is actually just a Deli. We walked down to the Wharf and then to a church Leigh had been looking for where a nice little Father showed us around. Across the way we found a tower (which we only later realised was Belfasts own Leaning Tower) where underneath there were those cool jumping fountains. We stood there for awhile till Shelly was no longer excitedly amused and we headed back through the main shopping area where we stopped for a drink at a café. It started raining at this point so we then went to shop for some umbrellas. I was quite happy with my cute little black, pink and turquoise paisley print one. Leigh opted for stylish black. Walked back to the hostel and surprise surprise the odd couple invited us out for dinner!

They had heard of a place called ‘The Kitchen’ and that it offered really cheap pub meals complete with a pint of Guinness! Sounded alright but again due to their budget they didn’t want to catch a taxi, even though it would have only cost them about £1-2 each and even though it was bucketing down with rain outside.

With trusty new umbrellas in hand we started the long walk back down towards the harbour.

After getting a bit lost we found the place. It was a bit deserted but there were nice big chairs in front of a raging log fire for us to hang our wet clothes. Decided against the pint of Guinness and went for a few rounds of Baileys (it's still Irish!)along with Guinness battered chicken goujons and a side of coleslaw.

Sat around and watched a Manchester United game on the big screen. The odd couple were alright, but ultimately a bit boring it seems because I still cannot remember their names.

When we left it was still raining and they still thought it best to walk back. We thought it best to catch a cab and said goodbye. Our cabbie was cool and we chatted a lot on the way back to the hostel.

 

Friday 27^th October

Up early and packed everything. Got a yummy bacon and egg soda bap sort of thing from the café downstairs and then set out to hail a taxi. Proved a little harder than we thought after running from side to side at the traffic lights waiting for one to come past but we were soon being dropped off at the airport and found our car hire representative guy. He went through all the contract conditions and we soon found ourselves the guardians of a little silver Ford Focus.

Leigh took the reigns and we headed off north to the Giants Causeway. It wasn’t long before we were out of the city and into the beautiful green countryside. We stopped every so often for photo ops and by late morning had come to our first stop at Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge. I was all for walking the suspended bridge which was strung high over a cliff with the ocean raging below, but due to the bad weather we could not. We walked out to have a look at it anyway and came across none other than the Odd Couple! We knew they might be out this way as they had told us they were doing a tour in the area that morning. Saw the bridge, took photos and twisted my ankle slightly as I was stupidly wearing heeled boots, (they never saw the light of day again until we got to Dublin,) and I soon changed to sneakers back in the car.

Continued on and by early arvo we were at the famed Giants Causeway in County Antrim (my only item on my wishlist for Northern Ireland). The weather had grown absolutely crappy by this stage and walking out on weird shaped rocks on the edge of the sea sounded like a great idea!

We made our way down the steep road and to the first of 5 stops which contained the weird hexagonal looking basalt stones. They were pretty interesting to look at and more photos were taken.

Legend has it that the Irish giant Fionn mac Cumhaill (Finn McCool) built the causeway to walk to Scotland to fight his Scottish counterpart Benandonner. One version of the legend tells that Finn McCool fell asleep before he got to Scotland. When he didn't arrive, the much larger Benandonner crossed the bridge looking for him. To protect Fionn, his wife Oonagh laid a blanket over Fionn and pretended he was actually Fionn's baby son. When Benandonner saw the size of the 'infant', he assumed the alleged father, Fionn, must be gigantic indeed and ran all the way back to Scotland tearing up the bridge as he went. The Scottish side of the causeway also contains the same similar stones made by the same lavaflow/giant.

A bit tired by this stage and covered in sea foam we took the bus back up the hill and went and had some lunch in a quaint hotel nearby.

Our destination for the night was Dungiven. It was my turn to drive and we made it to the town safely by nightfall. We were on the lookout for Dungiven Castle. It was quite a small village and we thought there would be signs but we could not find it. We decided to pull into the Tourist Information Office which sort of looked like a castle itself.

No wonder, this place also doubled as Dungiven Castle and our hostel for the night.

The place was very quiet and we were soon to find that we were possibly the only customers there. Considering this we opted for the 12 bed dorm which was only £12 and a lot cheaper than a smaller dorm. It turns out we were right and we ended up with the whole dorm to ourselves. Our beds were situated in a little round alcove which from the outside would have formed a tower on the corner of the castle. The views were amazing and overlooked a green valley which still had remnants of the days setting sun.

Dinner was a mix and grab concoction of whatever we could find at the deli down the road. I also bought some fruit toast for breakfast the next day. Stayed up for a bit and watched some telly before going to bed.

 

Southern Ireland

Saturday 28^th October

 Today we crossed the border and into Southern Ireland and back to the Euro. Along the way we passed an old, decrepit looking mansion complete with crows flying throughout it. It looked too awesome to not stop and take photos.

Our mission for the day was to find an old castle that was part of the MacClancy clan, Leigh’s Clancy heritage. We stopped in Ballyshannon and got some directions from a lady at the tourist bureau before heading to Lough Melvin where the castle was said to be sitting on a small island just off the shore. We drove all the way along the length of the river to a small village called Kinlough. We stopped in at The Courthouse Restaurant and asked if they knew anything about a castle on the Lough. The lady didn’t but suggested we might go to the Primary School to find the groundskeeper, a local eccentric who knew a lot of the areas history. So off we went to school. A guy out front took us in and then a teacher showed us to the keepers closet. This guy sure knew his stuff and was more than happy to tell Leigh everything he knew. We were then introduced to the Principal and she took us to a classroom where she dragged a poor girl from her seat to meet Leigh…. a fellow Clancy.

“Here’s your long lost relative all the way from Australia!”

Poor kid looked frightened. But everyone was very friendly and we cheerfully went on our way to search for the castle we had apparently driven past already.

Driving down the narrow country dirt (one lane) road rally style, we finally found a partially covered sign which pointed in the Castles direction, although we’d have to walk through a field to get to it. We parked the car at the gate, jumped over it and trod along down the muddy path. A cute cow came to say Hi and then a crazy lost sheep tried to headbutt its way past us. Finally we came to the shoreline and found Leigh’s teeny tiny castle in ruins on a small island just off the shore and a few walls and bricks the remains of an Abbey in the field. But we’d finally found it so we were happy.

  Continued onto Galway where we were to stop for two nights to take in the Australia vs Ireland International Rules game. Due to the influx of people into Galway to see this game we had booked ahead at a little bed & breakfast on the outskirts of town. The place was run by a nice couple although the husband reminded me of Basil from Fawlty Towers. Settled in, then went up the road to a pub recommended by Basil. After the main meal I told Leigh that I wasn’t having dessert…..unless Baileys cheesecake was on the menu. Well of course it was, this was Ireland after all. Sadly though the cheesecake was mediocre and nothing on my home-made Baileys Toblerone Choc-caramel cheesecake.

  

Sunday 29^th October

 It’s game day!!

Drove in early morning to pick up our tickets from the Radisson Hotel. I was wearing my Dockers scarf and was promptly harassed by the old men giving out the tickets and complimentary hats, until I reminded them that we finished 4^th that year, then they shut up.

Afterwards we went for a stroll about town.

I had one middle-aged couple come up to me,

“Are you a Fremantle supporter?” said the lady obviously spying the Dockers scarf now half hidden under my coat.

I told them I was and the man undid his jacket to show his Dockers scarf. We laughed and had a quick chat before going our way.

Went on the net for a bit and made a cheap phone call home before we headed back to the B&B for a rest.

Later we caught the bus back in, although I had to run back to the B&B quickly as I’d forgotten the tickets. Although it was not a problem because the bus didn’t come for ages anyway.

Went to Eyre Square and had a drink at the Imperial Hotel pub. I spotted ‘Fanatics’ wandering around and we later went outside and I asked if I could play football with them in the park. I was doing well until I went to take a mark and landed on my ass after slipping over in a pile of mud. Never to be deterred I got up and continued until my next attempt saw me back in the mud. I was wearing my Dockers jumper and scarf at this stage and walking through the square one girl walking towards me started yelling. She promptly hiked up her jeans to show me her Dockers socks, I hiked up mine to show her my socks, then high-fived her and carried on. Poor Leigh so far had been given no attention in his Collingwood jumper.

We caught another bus out to Salthill and made our way to the football oval. An Aussie old lady joined us and prattled on until we could get rid of her. We took our seats which turned out to unfortunately be apart from most of the Aussie crowd. We sat and watched a bit of the pre-match Hurling game. It was an interesting sport to watch and was made even more interesting when a dog ran onto the oval and had to be chased off.

We grabbed some Supermacs (takeaway) from a nearby stand and then settled in for the game. At half time there was an abundance of streakers running onto the oval in varying costumes from Spiderman to Superman and one naked guy. But a silly Aussie stayed on the ground and wouldn’t get off until the Guarda (police) dragged him off. Back to the game and we were going pretty well until the dying minutes when we stupidly gave up the game and the Irish ran us over. Boo.

Went back into town after the game and back to the Imperial Hotel. It just wasn’t the same knowing we had lost and after being hit in the head by some old Irish ladies elbow (probably by accident, probably…) I’d started to get a bit of a headache so we waited outside for the bus and watched people frolic in the fountain where a large amount of detergent had been poured resulting in quite a lot of foam. I bet it was an Australian who did it.

  

Monday 29^th October 

Today after a lovely Irish breakfast, with fried black pudding, from Basil’s wife, we left Galway and drove to the Connemara region, heading towards Kylemore Abbey. This place was number one on my Southern Ireland wishlist after I had spotted a photo of it on the net a few months earlier. Originally called Kylemore Castle and built in 1863 for some English guy, it was later turned into a Benedictine nunnery in 1920 by Belgian nuns fleeing Europe during World War II.

We decided not to pay the entrance fee to go inside and instead took photos from across the lake and then visited the souvenir shop where I bought some Baileys flavoured fudge and a few little other things whilst Leigh picked up a little Irish old man tweed cap.

Driving along we found signs pointing to Aughnanure Castle. We decided to have a look and found a small but tall castle in a field with a pretty creek on one side of it. We paid the entry fee for this one and had a look around. I was checking out the cows in the adjacent field when I spotted a dog running across it and towards the castle. It went straight past me with a rabid look in its eye and into the castle. I followed it up the stairs and watched the thing as it started manically rubbing itself along the walls and making weird noises. It was one possessed little puppy! I laughed away and followed it around for a bit before we all left and went our separate ways.

Onto Limerick! Traffic was a bitch driving back through Galway due to the influx of football tourists heading home. We didn’t make it to Limerick until about 6-7pm that night and spent another hour trying to find any of the three hostels that were outlined in my Irish guide. Couldn't find them so settled for a B&B. We were later told there were no longer any hostels in Limerick.... ^&*$#@!!

We walked the length of the town looking for a place to get some dinner. Down by the river and near the local castle we found a pub that seemed alright. I was excited that they had duck pate for entrée’s!

Walked back and flaked out in bed after a very tiring day.

  

Tuesday 30^th October

 Pissed off by Limerick we went to Killarney the next day via the Cliffs of Moher.... again, cold, wet, windy.... lets go play on the highest cliffs in Ireland!

It was reaaaally windy but thankfully the rain stayed off while we were there. We trekked up the hill and to the area overlooking the cliffs. They were very pretty with lots of mist surrounding them. We walked along the track and came across a muddy area which had a sign saying not to go past this point. We watched though, as obviously illiterate people trudged past in the mud, slipping over every now and then as they tried to make their way up a steep muddy hill that trailed quite closely to the edge of the cliff.

Went back to the souvenir shop and warmed up by buying stuff! I bought a beanie. I was cold and the wind was playing ridiculous havoc with my hair. I also bought an Irish tin flute much to Leighs displeasure for about 20 minutes in the drive out of there, until I gave up and put it away, after only really being able to play the Lion King song from memory.

That night we stayed in a lovely hostel in Killarney. It was actually an old country house on a big estate and at night they even had wild bunnies hopping around the lawn out front, much to my delight…Leighs annoyance, (‘oooh bunnies!’ at every spotting would be annoying after a while). Drove into town that night and decided a change from the usual heavy Irish fare was in order, so we got Chinese.

 

Wednesday 31^st October

 Drove around the Ring of Kerry looking at castles and pretty scenic stuff today. Came across a cool abandoned one that wasn’t even on the map called Ballycarberry which has been sitting there since 1569.  We proceeded to climb under the fence with the No Trespassing sign on it and jump all over it, as if it were a bouncy-castle. It was lots of fun. We then visited nearby Cahergall Stone Fort which was made completely out of flat stones, no concrete or anything.

Driving along all these Irish roads, I have created a new game called Punch-Hearse. The amount of funeral cars we have seen while in Ireland has been amazing. So now if I see one its one punch, but double punch if it’s got a body in it!
A second game includes playing chicken with the sheep who constantly loiter the country roads.

 Made it to Cork by early evening. After navigating the horrendous one-way streets we finally found our hostel. Went in search for dinner and being Halloween all the local kids were out innocently trick or .........sorry, I mean all the students from the nearby Uni campus were whoring it up in tight lil nurses uniforms and buying grog from the supermarket... (ok, ok so I secretly wanted to join them). We stocked up at the supermarket and then found another Chinese restaurant up the road which we had no choice in going to as there was nothing else around. Was still a nice meal though.

  

Thursday 1^st November

 Annoyed with Cork’s one way streets we headed out early morning without even having a good look at the city. What we had come here for was just out of the city, being Blarney Castle.

The grounds which the Castle are on were very green and quite pretty. The Castle itself was mostly in ruins but looked lovely against the emerald backdrop of trees. I opted for the obligatory kissing of the Blarney Stone in my requisite green jumper. Leigh decided against swapping spit with the ancient stone which is believed to give the pasher the ‘gift of eloquence’. (Damn straight I’m good eloquent see!)

We then walked around the grounds and through the lil fairy forest and to the Wishing Stairs where you are supposed to walk up and down the stairs with your eyes closed and backwards! Envisioning a travel insurance claim before my eyes I opted for a half wish and only walked up backwards with my eyes closed. Other cool things in the forest included the sacrificial altar which we promptly gave ourselves to, the Witches Stone and the wee little fairy tree chair which I thought was ever so cute.

 From there we headed to Caher and another bunch of rocks called Cahir Castle. This one is actually famous though as it was the castle used in the filming of the movie, Excalibur.

 Then not so far away we visited the Rock of Cashel which is a big Castle and Cathedral on top of a rocky outcrop. The grounds were very picturesque and had a great view overlooking the valley. I liked how the Cathedral was in ruins, it looked awesome.

 Our home for the night was Kilkenny. (OMG They Kilkenny! You Bastards!) After a comparatively short time of finding our hostel compared to previous nights we got a nice little room overlooking the main street.

Found another pub for dinner, with below average Baileys cheesecake again on the menu, before I found a net café to download some photos onto DVD.

Had an early night while Leigh went across the road to a pub to watch the footy.

  

Friday 2^nd November 

I quite liked Kilkenny and wouldn’t mind returning one day, but it was time to leave and we decided we’d go to Glendalough for our last night before heading to the bright lights of Dublin. Made a pitstop in Arklow which really all it had going for it were hoons in hotted up cars, most surprising.

It was late arvo by the time we arrived in Glendalough, a very sleepy village in the middle of nowhere. Earlier that day though we had visited (for 2 minutes to post some postcards) the village where, the TV show, Ballykissangel is filmed.

Glendalough though was right out of a 18^th Century Irish travel guide. It was just so damn cute. The view from outback overlooked a field with mountains towering over a lake in the distance and the remnants of an old monastery in the other direction. In the field were sheep in which I had great delight in tormenting.

That night we walked into the village, which seemed more like a small collection of old buildings, and to the local pub for a feed. Then back to the hostel to watch some TV before going to bed.

  

Saturday 3^rd November  

Woke up this morning to find the ground, and our car, frosted over. From the view out back we could see mist rising over the lake and the glistening of icicles on anything green….or white as the sheepies were.

Drove up to one of the lakes and decided to walk around it. Many a pretty photo was taken along the way and we soon found ourselves at the nearby monastery. It contained a big graveyard full of old moss covered gravestones and a very phallic looking round tower.

On our way back we even spotted some deer in the grass. Every time they put their head down I’d clap the latch on my video camera which they didn’t seem to like and they’d pop their head up again, compared to all the other nondescript noises we tried to make which they seem oblivious to.

It was then onto Dublin, passing the pretty Powerscourt Waterfall on the way which my Dublin friend Dave had suggested I do. He also advised us that it would be a good idea to get into Dublin as early as possible due to the traffic. He wasn’t joking! It was shocking and I could see Leigh getting mighty pissed off with all the one-way streets and traffic jams.

Finally we returned the car to the rental place without any damage, scraped off all the leprechaun from the tyres and caught a taxi to the Killarney House Hostel. We had booked a 4 bed dorm, but fortunately for us they’d overbooked so we were given a double room instead!

That night we met up with Dave who was so nice he even brought us pressies! And we all went to the Temple Bar area to get nicely toasted. We started off our pub crawl at the Oliver St John Gogarty Pub, then went across the road to The Auld Dubliner, then further down to the actual Temple Bar bar and finally ended up at Fitzsimons.

It was a good night and we rounded it off nicely with a weird looking but incredibly delicious kebab from Abrakebabra.

 

Sunday 4^th November

It’s game day again! But firstly Leigh and I had to tick off some touristy things. After getting some fish and chips from a ‘famous’ place recommended by Dave, we sat on the steps of Christchurch Church to eat it. I’m sorry Dave but it was probably the worst fish and chips I’d ever had haha. Feeling oily we walked up to the Guinness Brewery. The line was long and full of Aussie guys who had dragged their missus’ along obviously for THEIR Ireland wishlist topper. Once inside we saw how it was all made and then went to the bar for a complimentary sample. I had heard that the Guinness here tasted better than overseas, but it still tasted like fermented coffee/dirt to me. I did, however, like the little plastic souvenir pebble you were given on entry which contained a few drops of Guinness in it. At some point here I lost my scarf walking back to the hostel.

Met up with Dave and we headed off to Croke Park for the deciding match between Australia and Ireland. We caught the bus there and chatted to various aussies taking the same trip. Near the park there were crowds everywhere and it was all very exciting. We had excellent seats this time and the game was awesome. Lots of tackling which the Irish weren’t used to and cried about afterwards and lots of noise. Thankfully we won this game and because we’d scored more, we won the series! The Irish were not happy at all. But all the Aussies cheered and ran to the sideline to applaud Michael Voss from the Brisbane Lions who had just retired from AFL. I was so happy to be Australian.

 Caught the bus back into the City and got a quick feed at Burger King. Aussie flags and Skippy-Bob kangaroos could be seen everywhere, but the Irish weren’t happy little vegemites and most gave us dirty looks haha.

We headed to Temple Bar around the corner and had a few drinks in the first pub. No drama here and I had almost forgotten I had two Australian flags tattooed on each cheek. But once we went across the road to The Auld Dubliner, there were a few displeased people who decided to knock everything Australian by yelling out stuff that we practically agreed with (like ‘Home & Away sucks!’) so it was lost on us and I yelled back ‘yeh we know!’. I yelled back a few other things though and was ready for a fight but we left before I could start anything.

Next stop was the Temple Bar and unfortunately Dave had to leave early as he had to work the next day. Leigh and I stayed on and I was beginning to get a bit tired, but then we started making friends and talking to randoms and getting drunk and it turned out to be a damn great night!

This was the moment when I fell in love with Magners. A girl I made friends with bought me a pint of it and my god, it was the best thing since slice bread. The Irish had redeemed themselves after Guinness and crap fish & chips.

Every now and then though some idiotic Irishman would make a comment about our flag having the Union Jack in it and a debate would start. We pretty much had our speech down pat by the end of the night where we defended our flag by saying that “1000’s of men and women have died serving that flag and everything it stood for so go shove it up your arse!” This proved to be a good argument.

One guy I got to know that night was certain I had to be Matthew Pavlich’s sister (a football player from my Fremantle Dockers team), due to the apparent uncanny resemblance. Complimented by this I replied that I wasn’t related to him, although I wouldn’t mind a bit of Matthew Pavlich in me hahahahaha.

It was a very good night indeed and I wish I had taken my camera, but at least I still have the memories.

 

Monday 5^th November

Leigh headed back to London today but I stayed on without any real plans on when I’d be going. Though by that afternoon I had booked a flight to Norwich, England and got in touch with some relatives who would be happy for me to visit. Sorted! Though I planned to stay in Dublin for 2 extra nights.

I moved into a new room sharing with a French guy who didn’t really talk much. I noticed he were Muslim and wondered if he minded sharing with a female.

That evening Dave took me out to the movies to see Borat, it was sooo hilariously funny, I cringed and laughed so much.

 

Tuesday 6^th November

Today I bummed around for a bit, then went to the movies by myself and watched The Devil Wears Prada which I also liked but not as funny as Borat.

I then went to Penney’s afterwards (a cheap department store) and bought some lingerie type stuff. That night I took Dave out to dinner to a Thai restaurant; continuing in my theme to try Thai food in every country I visit – long story. It was my idea to pay for dinner however Dave, the ever gentleman, would not allow it and after a short argument he forced his money on the waitress hehe.

We went for drinks afterwards where I finally got to buy Dave at least one round after all the drinks he had bought me that weekend. We chatted for a bit and then it was time to leave. He walked me back to my hostel and we said our goodbyes, but I’ll be back!

 

Wednesday 7^th November

Back to the Mother-land and flying over Manchester (with an ache in my heart for an inhabitant below) I landed in Norwich where my Pop’s half sisters daughters husband, Richard, picked me up. I had not seen him in about 10 years but we sort of recognised each other and we drove back to their lovely house in Greater Yarmouth.

I got to meet Gloria, my Pop’s half sisters daughter and they showed me around the house and to my room. Oh! What a room! I felt like I was in a 5 star hotel it was just all so pretty. I had obviously been staying in hostels for too long!

We had some dinner, got to know each other and then I went and got some much needed sleep.

 

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Over the next few days I visited two of my Pop's half-sisters which was great as my Pop, who is adopted, only found his birth family about 20 years ago when he was in his late 60's. It was really good to meet them and one of them bore a very striking resemblance to my Pop, it was uncanny!

Gloria & Richard also showed me around Norwich and afterwards Gloria & I went shopping, as girls do.

I really had a good time with them, considering it was the first time I'd really got to know them, and we all got on famously. Their hospitality was great as well and I was thankful to be able to have a few days rest in a normal house, and to do some washing! Unfortunately I had to leave earlier than expected to catch a flight to Scotland for a Haggis tour I had booked.

 

 

 

 

 

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