After a good night’s sleep (especially considering our hotel was on top of a fire station) and full breakfast, we walked about two blocks to Thrifty Car Rental this morning to pick up our rental car. Out of paranoia (and after learning that one of our fellow guests at our B&B in Belfast had just been in an accident), we decided to add all of the optional coverage for our car, just in case. We’re driving a black Hyundai Accent and it came with an already cracked side view mirror, if that’s any indication of what happens when foreigners try to [View Full Entry]

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Busy day today. We left our B&B early (7am) to take a taxi to Belfast Central Station for our 8am train to Dublin. We collected our tickets and then found a café inside to get some breakfast before boarding the train. The train station was quite empty so we had no trouble finding seats and a place to store out luggage on the train (usually there is a dog pile of bags that collect near the doors). We arrived in Dublin at 10am and walked to our hotel (Trinity Capital) to drop off our bags and set out for a day [View Full Entry]

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Today started out a little rocky. After a full ulster fry Irish breakfast (mine vegetarian style) and very good!), we headed outside and it was pouring rain (we must be in Ireland!). We walked over to the Botanic Gardens and Palm House and then to Queens University. It was graduation day so we couldn’t really see any of the inside. We had tickets for the city tour (hop-on hop-off bus) so we decided to take shelter under the bus stop and wait for the bus to come by. We waited for about half an hour…. No bus. The stop wasn’t clearly [View Full Entry]

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Today was mostly just a travel day After breakfast at the hotel, we took a taxi to Central Station for our train trip to Stranraer Port. We got there early so we could wander around the nearby shops, but being Sunday, most of them didn’t open until 11am or later. We walked down Argyle and Buchanan Streets (the two main shopping streets after Sauchihall…all of them are connected) and went in a few places that were open before walking back to the station to wait for our train. The train left at 11:37am and we arrived at Stranraer Port at 1:51pm. [View Full Entry]

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This morning we had a quick breakfast and then it was off to Glasgow. We caught the 941am train to Oxenholme and then the 1028am train to Glasgow Central. We arrived in Glasgow at about 12:40pm, picked up our tickets for tomorrow, then walked to our hotel (the Victorian House) on Renfrew Street. We only had the one day in Glasgow so we set out as soon as we dropped off our bags in the room. We walked first to Tenement House only to find out that there was a fee to go inside (after I’d read on the internet that [View Full Entry]

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I suppose I should have been more specific yesterday when I wished for cooler weather here in the Lake District , because today it poured rain, the first rain we’ve seen since we got to the UK over a week ago. We went down for breakfast (my first full English breakfast, vegetarian style) and then set out for the shops since we had a couple of hours to kill before our tour. We stopped in Boots so I could get some more band aids (lots of walking = lots of new blisters) and by the time we left the shop it [View Full Entry]

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This morning after breakfast we caught a taxi to Waverly Station for our train to Windermere (Lake District). The train didn’t have internet access so I am falling even further behind on my blog updates and emails (at least I can save them to my computer to update later!).. As far as B&Bs go here, internet access can be pretty sporadic. Your best best is to carry your computer to a local coffee shop (and there are MANY to choose from). We arrived in Oxenholme at 12::11pm and switched trains for the short ride to Windermere. We got to Wndermere at [View Full Entry]

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Today was our day trip to Loch Ness and the Highlands. We set out at 7am this morning and walked the mile and a half to our tour departure point on the Royal Mile. We got there early so we sat at Starbucks across the street and had breakfast while we waited. It was kind of cool to see the Royal Mile so empty. It certainly didn’t look that way when we were there yesterday! At 8:15am our tour departed toward the Highlands. It was a long day spent mostly in a van, but we got to see more of Scotland [View Full Entry]

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Today was our big walking tour of the Royal Mile in Edinburgh. The Royal Mile was established as a royal burgh by King David I in the 12th century. This is definitely the main area to see in Edinburgh (unless you’re here to shop, in which case you’d probably be happiest on Princes Street). After breakfast we walked from our hotel to Edinburgh Castle about a mile away. If you come to Edinburgh, prepare to spend about 3 hours at the castle. We didn’t even purchase the audio guide and it still took that long to see everything (I can’t even [View Full Entry]

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Today was a short day. We left Leeds after breakfast and took a taxi to the train station. We took the 9:12am train to York, then transferred to the 9:55am train to Edinburgh. I spent the entire train ride trying to catch up on my blog writing and photo uploading. The wi-fi kept cutting in and out so my blog is still going to be a few days behind. Sgh. We arrived in Edinburgh at about 12:30pm, went to the ticket kiosk to collect our tickets for Thursday (to Windermere), then got a taxi to our hotel, the St. Valery Guest [View Full Entry]

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