briangilmore

Double Castle Day The nice weather we had experienced the last few days was starting to slip away. Although the morning started out with a brief period of sunshine, it quickly reverted to clouds and a light rain which thwarted my desire to visit Mount Snowden. There is a special train that takes you to the top of Mount Snowden for incredible views of this part of Wales but we’ll have to save it for another trip. Today would be double castle day - Caernarfon and Conwy. Caernarfon Castle Caernarfon was a short 15 minute drive away, keeping with King Edward’s desire to have all his castles close together to protect against invaders. This is also nice for the modern day tourist, which some might consider another type of invader. Thank goodness it was Sunday, because ... read more

Not Enough Time As I planned our day in the Cotswolds, I realized that I had vastly underestimated the amount of time necessary to see this beautiful part of England. We could easily spend 3 days here or longer, taking walks in the countryside, trying horseback riding, tasting scrumpy, visiting the local farms and other little towns. It probably sounds like a cliché, but the Cotswolds are very quaint. But for today, our plan was to see Blenheim Palace which was the home of Winston Churchill, and walk around our home base of Stow-on-the-Wold. Winston Churchill’s Ultimate House World War II buffs will be interested in visiting Blenheim Palace, the home of Winston Churchill. I’ve always admired the leadership style of Winston Churchill and his witty quotes so I was excited to visit. But I have ... read more

Mother Nature Makes up for the Rain Mother Nature decided to make up for yesterday’s bad weather by giving us a beautiful day today. It was blue skies and about 70 degrees Fahrenheit all day, perfect for a visit to the city of Wells and town of Glastonbury. Wells is known for its mighty Cathedral, but I was really excited to visit Glastonbury because it is the site of King Arthur’s tomb. Glastonbury also has a Tor, which is Celtic for “high hill”, which overlooks the town and is renowned for its mystical or magical properties because it is at the intersection of a major ley line. The City of Wells, an Unexpected Delight The first stop was the city of Wells which was on the way to Glastonbury. Wells is famous for its Cathedral, but ... read more

Battled Hardened Driver of the UK The first day of travel to Europe is always the worst. Sleeping on the airplane is almost impossible, and this flight was no exception. Bad weather made most of the flight bumpy, and no pillow or blanket could make one comfortable enough to get real sleep. It still didn’t feel like vacation yet. Places like Stonehenge were still just a page in my travel book. By the time we landed in Heathrow, everyone was pretty cranky from lack of sleep. Fortunately Heathrow was amazingly efficient. After our bad experience at the Aruban airport during spring break, I was beginning to think that all airports were run by people who didn’t graduate high school. It was less than 30 minutes from the time we landed to the time we exited the ... read more

Wednesday, July 1st - Dublin Dublin itself is a one day town, especially when compared to the other great cities of Europe. It’s really more of a business or party town in my opinion. The drunks we often heard at 3:00am in the morning would agree with me. The beauty of Ireland definitely lies in the countryside. Still, this was a great place to complete our trip and wind down before heading to the airport. And so on our last day of this great trip we visited the Book of Kells and the National Museum of Archeology. The Book of Kells The Book of Kells is a bit of a letdown when you finally see it. Ireland’s most ancient book is stuffed in the back of the exhibit and only 4 pages are viewable at any ... read more