Scotland, Northern Ireland and Ireland - Week 14

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August 13th 2013

Published: August 13th 2013

Day 91 – Edinburgh

Ahhh… sleep-in, I’ll take them when I can get them. Once we were up we headed back to the graveyard to find the Harry Potter character tombstones. I found Tom Riddle, McGonegall, Moody, Baird and Potter. The caretaker of the church came over and had a chat with us for quite a while. He was lovely and gave us some info about J. K. Rowling who he walks through the grounds with once every year when she comes back to visit. Good ole Wallace Ferguson. He was full of additional info too about Scotland and the church. He gave us great tips for free city views and where to go for dinner too.

Next up we checked out these views Wallace mentioned and we came across a shop for tall women. Hell yeah! I’m running low on funds but I still couldn’t leave without buying a new dress. We explored a bit more and found the ugly parliament building and the Palace of Holyroodhouse which is where the Queen lives when visiting Edinburgh.

Our second Fringe show was next and we were supporting an Aussie - Hannah Gadsby. Kel and I sat in the front row and were the only ones who did. I had seen Hannah do this particular show before so I already knew it was a crack-up. It was 2 for 1 tickets and it only cost me 6 pounds. The Fringe is so cheap. People are seeing 4 or 5 shows a day if they have the time and why not. It’s awesome. You don’t even mind if you get a dud act here and there.

We went to dinner as per Wallace’s recommendation at an all-you-can-eat Chinese place. We stuffed ourselves and then headed to the Edinburgh castle for the Tattoo. I’ve been wanting to go to the Edinburgh Military Tattoo for years. I bought the tickets as soon as they went on sale last December and we’re the only TopDeckers to go to the Tattoo this week. We bought plaid hats in Stratford-upon-Avon and wore them tonight. So we felt even more Scottish while watching the show. It was an incredible production. A mixture of pipe bands, brass bands, cultural groups, dancers, singers and more. The New Zealanders stole the show though. They had a great medley put together which included the Haka and Gangnam Style (with movements of course). The Kiwi marching girls were also incredible. They did this crazy diagonal marching through each other while going backwards. No seeing out of the corner of their eye. It was precision perfect. The whole night was wrapped up with fireworks and an audience participation sing of Auld Lang Syne.

Day 92 – Edinburgh

I am writing this while sitting in a restaurant overlooking Loch Ness. I love being me right now. I haven’t spotted Nessie yet but I’m off to take some selfie photos soon and maybe Nessie will pop a head or tail into the photo for me. Fingers crossed.

Well there was no Nessie spotting by anyone. Surprising! It had taken four hours to get out here from Edinburgh and then nothing. Oh well. Lucky the scenery in the Scottish Highlands is amazing. We stopped a few times in different towns and drove through scenic areas that had been used in Harry Potter and Skyfall. Stopping at the Three Sisters was unexpected but we made the most of the photo opportunity. One pulled leg muscle and an awesome jump shot later… I hobbled back onto the bus. We didn’t get back from our day trip until 8pm so it had been a 12 hour trip all up. We, of course, were not stopping there. It was onto another Fringe show for us.

We met up with Leanne who had just done the Russia/Scandi trip with us and headed into see Stephen K Amos. We were put in the front row by the usher which was intimidating but turned out well in the end. I wore my Scottish hat to the show which I had been wearing all day. I figured the hat is better than the hat hair. Well Stephen noticed it straight away and made a few gags about it during the night. All good fun. I kinda saw it coming. There were a heap of Aussies all close to the front of the show and when he asked a guy which part of Australia he was from he answered ‘Queensland’. Well, there was a big cheer from the Aussies who just all happened to be Queenslanders too. The rest of the night had a lot of Aussie and Brisbane references which Stephen would sometimes ask us about before explaining things to the room. It was great! A more personal show which we were happy to be involved in. Afterwards we went and had a drink or two with Leanne to catch-up after having only a week apart from each other. A lot can happen in a week. Well, a lot can happen in a day too.

Day 93 – Glasgow

We left Edinburgh this morning (so sad) and had what must have been the quickest bus trip yet to Glasgow. About an hour. We had a quick walking tour of Glasgow and kept thinking about the lovely Edinburgh we had left behind. Around lunchtime we headed out to the Glengowyn Whiskey Distillery. We had a taste and a tour before heading to our hotel. We were pretty wrecked after our action packed days in Edinburgh so we had a few hours of rest. I got my photos and my blog up so I was happy. You gotta make the most of the wifi when you have it.

For dinner we had Indian. Yummo! Apparently this is the national cuisine of Glasgow. Sounds good to me. Then we headed to another comedy show. It was a comedy club called The Stand. We had four comedians plus the compere. The first female comedian was my favourite. She was a natural and connected with everyone I think. The last comedian (who was supposed to be the headliner) was a dud. He was called Reverend ??? and was sexist, racist and downright rude. The poor guy in the front row copped most of it and he was physically shrinking in his seat trying to avoid the firing line. Just a dick. He also looked like Alan from the Hangover.

Day 94 – Belfast – Northern Ireland

We’re off to Northern Ireland today by bus and ferry. I had the most amazing chocolate muffin on the boat. It was soooo good I had to write about it. Best muffin I have EVER had. If it wasn’t the last one I would have gone back and bought whatever was left. *EDIT* I found another muffin onboard and devoured that one too J

When we hit Belfast we all went on a Black Cab Tour. These tours are run by normal taxi drivers who have lived in Belfast all their lives. They took us to the Protestant and Catholic areas of Belfast including the wall that divides them. They explained the history and were open to any questions people wished to ask. They were unbiased and a bit of a crackup actually. They warned us when they dropped us back not to go out tonight except to dinner as a group. They could sense the tension on the streets and knew something was brewing. We were all oblivious to this.

Dinner was only a few metres down the road and on the walk there some of the girls spotted cast members from Game of Thrones. I’m so gutted I didn’t see them or get a photo. John Snow was even there, ha! My dinner was not very Irish but delicious none the less. We got back to our hotel quite early and heard police choppers/sirens for most of the night. So there WAS something brewing and police were having to use water cannons to gain control. There were cars set alight and people/police injured. We never saw any of it but it was only a few streets away. Eerie!

Day 95 – Galway – Ireland

Leaving behind the crazy city of Belfast we headed out to the Giant’s Causeway. I was expecting BIG things… pardon the pun. It was a little disappointing. It’s more like a normal human size causeway that’s packed with tourists. Next up we stopped in Londonderry for lunch. There was a big parade happening so we walked along the wall that surrounds the city and saw some of it from above. They had a heap of bands playing and I’ve never seen a parade that went for such a long distance. They were easily walking over a kilometer.

We got detoured because of the parade which added an hour to our drive so we didn’t get into Galway until around 8pm. No one took up the option to head into town. We’ll just explore it tomorrow on our free day. Bourne Identity is on the telly. Priorities people… priorities.

Day 96 – Galway

Big sleep-in today and headed into town at noon. We had a bit of a look around the shops but there wasn’t too much catching our eye so we headed to the cinemas instead. We saw the Lone Ranger. Not bad. I quite liked the horse. We got picked up again at 7pm and had another quiet night in. Getting to the point in the holiday I think where I just need a bit of a break. Relaxing with a bit of telly and getting plenty of sleep. I am on holidays after all.



Day 97 – Killarney

Today was a bit of déjà vu for me. We drove along the same roads I drove along many weeks ago. We went through the same towns and stopped at the same locations. I made sure to do things differently though when we got there. For example, we stopped at the Cliffs of Moher today and instead of walking along the cliffs on the left like I did last time I walked on the right hand side and got a whole other view point. This direction had some cool rock ledges jutting out and you could walk right up to the edge. Very exciting. It was blowing a gale so I only got as close as I could without being blown over.

Next up was some lunch in Tralee and then onto Killarney. Our bus driver did a magnificent park when we hit town. There was a car in the coach parking area so he parked them in. There was about an inch gap between the car and the bus, hehe. We had a jaunty horse and carriage ride through the Killarney National Park. Our horse was called Casey. It went for an hour and I got to sit up front with the driver and have the best view point. The town was pretty much closed up by the time we finished so we headed to our hotel for the night.

Scotland, Northern Ireland and Ireland - Week 14

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