Our last (full) day...

Today we got up early and headed to Westminster and did some site seeing. Once we got off the tube we walked by Parliament, Downing Street, Big Ben, etc. We then waited in a long line to buy tickets for the London Eye. It's a huge ferris wheel viewing ride. Each "eye" is a glass encapsulated area that holds like 10-15 people and it goes around once and you can see ALL of London, it was well worth it. However, we got stuck on the thing! We were almost at the finish of the ride when the whole thing stopped and the air conditioning went off. We basically stood in the same place for 30 minutes with no explanation of what was wrong. That made us mad, but once we were finished with our turn they stopped letting people on the ride so we have to be grateful that we got to experience those amazing views. We have great pictures and can't wait to show you! After the Eye we saw some more sights including the London Bridge and the Gherkin. The Gherkin is that bullet or cone shaped building that shapes the London skyline. Amazing architecture. Finally, we met up with Jena's friends Craig and his husband Brian. Craig works for Burberry and he gave us a tour of the company's world headquarters, which was very cool. After the tour they took us out for a nice dinner at a great restaurant in Pimlico, thanks again Craig and Brian! Tonight is our last night and while we are sad to be leaving we feel so lucky that we had the opportunity to visit all these great countries and see all that we have seen. Check back again later because when we get home and finally have a good computer and a good internet connection we will be able to post the rest of our great photos.

 On the London Eye

 London Bridge

 The Gherkin

LONDON

Yesterday we arrived to London. After checking into our hotel in Victoria, we picked up theater tickets from Lisa's wonderful friend Joe at the Dorchester. Almost immediately from there we headed to the theater to see the musical "We Will Rock You". It was amazing and we truly appreciate the tickets (thanks David!).

Today we did a full day tour. First stop was Windsor Castle, which was very neat. Turns out we took the tour just in time because after we left they cleared castle because of Irish bomb threats. We have no idea  if it is "big" news in the states but the Queen is visiting Ireland this week. We dodged that bullet too because we left Ireland the day before she arrived. They closed the streets off 3 full days before she arrived. Also, if you saw the news today, she laid a wreath at the monument for Irish soldiers who died in their fight for independence. Our hotel was less than one block from that monument. It was interesting to see all that in our first visit to isles. After Windsor we went to Bath, which is a very interesting town with an amazing history. Last stop of the day: Stonehenge. One of those natural wonders of the world that everyone knows about. It was very cool to lay eyes on it. We'll try and get some pictures up tomorrow.

Blocking off streets for the Queen's visit

Our nicest hotel yet!!

 1st night in London at the theater

 We loved "We will Rock you"

 FULL DAY OF TOURING

Windsor Castle

Bath

Stonehenge

Last day in Ireland

Yesterday we explored Dublin. We walked over to Grafton St and started our day by having brunch at Bewley's. It was really good, so thank you Rachael for the recommendation. After brunch we walked around Grafton and enjoyed seeing many of the street performers. There are tons of them all over the street doing anything from sand carving to dancing puppets to live statues.

After walking around and watching the Manchester United game. We went over to the Guinness Factory. It was very interesting to see the history of the beer, but what we enjoyed most was The Gravity Bar on the top floor. It has 360 degree views of all of Dublin. It was great having a pint of Guinness and seeing the wonderful view of the city.

Last night we did our own pub crawl in the Temple Bar area. It was tons of fun and we loved the pubs in the area!


Today after a long walk and a little help from locals here we made it to the Irish Jewish Museum. It was very tiny, but it does exist. We visited The Quays in the Temple Bar area to have an afternoon pint and listen to some great Irish music. Tonight we are going to stay low key because tomorrow we head to London. We have enjoyed Ireland and would love to come back!

 Grafton Street

 Street Performer on Grafton Street

 Guinness Factory Tour:

 Gravity Bar

 Views from Gravity Bar

 Our own little Pub Crawl in Temple Bar...

Last Day:

Smallest Pub in the world

 Irish Jewish Museum

Made it to Ireland

Although we tried to post yesterday it did not make it up for some reason. So Let's try this again...

Yesterday we arrived to Ireland. The flight was quick from Scotland and we landed in Ireland to a beautiful sunny day. To top it off we arrived at our hotel and were relieved to find out that it was an actual hotel and not a hotel/dorm. We are staying only a short walk from the Temple Bar area. After taking a walk around yesterday we decided to go to this nice restaurant in The Morgan Hotel. It was delicious and we recommend it to anyone coming here.

Today we started bright and early at 7am to tour the west coast of Ireland. We started in Limerick where we toured a castle. After that we moved north to see the Cliffs of Moher.  We didn't really know how amazing this place was until we saw it with our own eyes. To top it off, we had an amazing day with gorgeous weather. Wait until you see these pictures!! We will try to post them tomorrow.

FIRST DAY:

Our much better hotel room

 Around Dublin

 The Temple Bar area

 PINTS!!!

 Gigantic glass of wine

SECOND DAY: ALL DAY TOUR THROUGH WESTERN IRELAND

Castle

 Veiw from the top of the Castle

 Doolin for lunch

 Traditional Pub....Chris with his pint of Guiness

 Buddy, here is your racehorse waiting for you to pick up in Doolin

 Cliffs of Moher