Half Term Holiday

Early Saturday morning we set out to catch the bus to Rhyl to then catch a train to Manchester and then finally our flight to Dublin (and, yes, using all three modes was MUCH cheaper than taking the ferry from Holyhead). We arrived in the Dublin airport at about 16:00, and Janet was there waiting for us! By the way, Janet is awesome, and Jen loved he within 5 minutes of meeting her. We went back to her place to grab some grub and catch the first half of the Ireland Rugby game and then met up with some of her mates to catch the rest of the game. After making new friends and a good evening out, we headed back to the house to prepare for our first full day in Dublin. Over the next three days we saw things like Trinity College, almost all of the free museums Dublin has to offer, the Hop-on Hope-off Bus Tour, St. Patrick's Cathedral, Christ Church Cathedral, the Guinness

Factory (my personal favorite), the Gravity Bar at the top of the Guinness Factory with one of the best views of Dublin, St. Stephen's Green, Phoenix Park, Temple Bar (Bar meaning Street) area, etc. We topped our time in Dublin off with a pub dinner, where I got to pour my own Guinness and watch my beloved Manchester United beat AC Milan (who had David Beckham) and we WON!!! It was so good!

Wednesday morning, even earlier this time, we caught a cab at 4:30 (yes, AM) to the airport and landed at Paris Beauvais at 9 AM, caught the bus into Paris.

We had lunch at this little cafe where no one spoke a lick of English, so I decided to try and order chips (fries) and instead of chips, I got steak! It was comical. After a nice lunch , we set out to find Sylvie's apartment. That afternoon we spent a few hours at the Louvre. It was like nothing I have ever seen in my life. At some points like in front of the sculpture Aphrodite, Jen and I had to take a moment to just soak it in. We couldn't believe we were in Paris at the Louvre looking at the World famous Aphrodite! Needless to say, it was AWESOME!! I

can't even explain to you how great it was, although, all the signs and stuff were in just about every language but English (this was a theme while in Paris, obviously because they speak French, which frustrated me more than I had expected). Over the next two days we saw the Eiffel Tower, which was Jen's favorite and we spent a lot of time there, the Arc de Triomphe, Champs-Elysses, Notre Dame Cathedral, Montmarte and the surrounding area has sidewalk artists and delicious food (and was breathtakingly beautiful), the Opera House were Phantom of the Opera is based. and many other things. Surprisingly, Paris was my least favorite of all the places we went, it was dirty and stinky, the subways were scary and apparently the hot spot for couples to snog, and just overall not everything that everyone makes it out to be.

Friday evening, we caught the bus back to Paris Beauvais Airport and headed for Glasgow, Scotland. It was more beautiful than I expected. We got there really late at night, almost 1 AM, so we headed straight to the hostel. The next morning, we woke up slowly and took a walk around the city. We walked down the River Clyde to Glasgow Green, which is a huge park with monuments. There is an arch, a few statues and a huge pillar called Trafalgar (like in London). We then found the biggest terra-cotta fountain in the world outside the People's Palace Museum and Winter Gardens. The fountain depicted the four colonies of Britain: Canada, South Africa, Australia, and India. We then went and had a cup of tea in the Winter

Gardens, and walked around the People's Palace. It was a really interesting museum talking about the dark history of Glasgow, where they are now, and how they have accomplished the successful improvement to the city and the people. There were still people living in pre-fab houses from after the war up until 1990!! But in 1990, Glasgow was the City of Culture, so they have come a long way. We then went to the pub to get a late lunch and watch Manchester United lose to Everton; I was gutted!!! Everton was at the bottom of the rankings and we were number 2!!! Ugh! Such is life! We then took the long walk to Glasgow Cathedral, and it was beautiful!!! It was dark when we went so it was lit up and very mysterious. At some point during the night we got food from a chippy and when we were eating in our room, some yahoo pulled the fire alarm; firetrucks came and we had to evacuate. We decided to call it an early night since we had a long day of train and bus rides back to Wales!

We left at 10:30 am the next morning, and after like 4 train rides and 2 really long bus rides we made it back to Rhyl (15 minutes from Denbigh) and two of our friends were there waiting to pick us up! It was nice to see familiar faces, hear familiar accents, and most of all be back in my own bed at my own flat.

Jen and I compiled a few funny blogs about our trip, so you should check those out at her blog site. We had so much fun, and surprisingly, after being together 24/7 for 8 days straight, we still like each other! Thankfully Jen and I get along great!! Good trip, with a good friend!