Days 1- 6
Welcome to London!
Globus Highlights of Britain and Ireland Tour
Day 1
Sunday August 26, 2012 – London, England
I arrived into London at Heathrow Airport around 8am after a long and pretty uncomfortable flight from Chicago on American Airlines. My recent overseas flight on Delta was noticeably better. We had a very long walk from our gate to the passport control and customs area. However, contrary to many recent warnings, I breezed through customs in a good 5 minutes or so. I picked up my transfer through Globus and was promptly delivered to my hotel, the London Hilton Metropole. Upon arrival, I found the friendly Globus local representatives who assisted with my check-in process and provided some essential tour information for my time in London. I was very surprised and pleased to find that the hotel was prepared to allow me to access my room at such an early hour.
After delivering my luggage to my room and cleaning myself up a bit, I set off to explore the nearby area. Our hotel is located NW of the main city attractions near the Edgware Rd. Tube station. The area has a large Middle Eastern influence and population. A walk down Edgware Rd. will have you finding many Middle Eastern restaurants and shops. Mixed in among these businesses is of course, my first stop…Starbucks. J With astronomical wifi costs at the hotel, Starbucks will become a frequent stop throughout the trip. After grabbing a coffee and checking emails, I walked south down Edgware to Oxford St. for a bit of shopping. This area is very similar to the Magnificent Mile (North Michigan Avenue) in Chicago. The street is lined with many major clothing store chains and department stores. I popped into Selfridges luxury department store for a few minutes to torture myself and then made a visit to the more affordable Primark department store. It’s a good thing that the line was a mile long because I could have got myself into some trouble here. I then headed back to the hotel to get cleaned up for our group cocktail party.
This evening we gathered as a group to meet and greet and enjoy a few cocktails together. It was great to put faces to names. This was also my first opportunity to meet my co-host Ellen, from our Boca Raton corporate office. Afterward, I relaxed around the hotel and got myself organized for the upcoming day.
Day 2
Monday August 27, 2012 – London, England
Today we started our day early with breakfast at the hotel and then set off on our city tour of London. Our guide took us by some of the iconic sights of London including Hyde Park, Harrods, Westminster Abbey, Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament, the London Eye and then along the River Thames. We then made a stop and toured through St. Paul’s Cathedral which was gorgeous. With its beautiful dome and complex architecture, it was certainly not just another church. We then made our way over to the Buckingham Palace. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to get up through the crowd to see the actual Changing of the Guards. We did however get a great view of the guards coming through the nearby gates and making their way toward the palace. Next we headed back to our hotel, passing by the majestic Wellington Arch and Marble Arch. By the end of this first tour, we all knew that we had a great group of people and could look forward to a wonderful 15 days of touring together.
After a quick lunch, I opted to join most of the group on a unique tour of the public rooms inside Buckingham Palace and the Royal Mews. Our timing to the trip was lucky as the opportunity to enter and tour these rooms in Buckingham Palace is only available for around 6 weeks out of the year while the Queen is away on holiday. It was wonderful to see how Her Majesty and the rest of the Royal Family live. Unfortunately, all photography was prohibited in the interior of the palace. The Royal Mews, which houses many of the Queen’s horse drawn carriages and a few limousines, was very interesting to see as well. It is wonderful to see that such old traditions are still maintained.
This evening some of our group chose to take a Taste of London Illumination Cruise on the Thames. I elected to explore the city on my own instead and try to get some better pictures of the sites since my bus tour photos did not come out well. I took the Tube from hotel down to the Westminster area and got some great photos of the Abbey and the Houses of Parliament. Then I hopped on the Tube again and rode over to the Tower of London area to get some great shots of the Tower Bridge at dusk. Next I rode up to Picadilly Circus and enjoyed a nice dinner on Leicester Square to finish off the night.
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| Changing of the Guards (sort of) |
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| Golden Carraige at the Royal Mews |
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| Houses of Parliament - Big Ben |
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| Tower Bridge |
Day 3
Tuesday August 28, 2012 – Hampton Court – Salisbury – Bath, England
This morning we woke up bright early again (as we will every day) and met up with our tour director Carmel to start our road trip around Britain and Ireland. We set out from London heading southeast and made out first stop at Henry VIII’s Hampton Court to explore the beautiful Ornamental Gardens. I was surprised to find that the gardens here were, in my opinion, more beautiful than anything I saw at Versailles. Next we drove across to the quaint town of Salisbury to visit its beautiful cathedral and do some shopping. We then drove out to the nearby countryside to take in the ancient druid remains at Stonehenge. This was one of my most anticipated visits and it did not disappoint. Having been told by numerous people that it always rains when visiting Stonehenge, I was please to find that our group brought a change to that trend with quite a beautiful day! Our next stop was Bath where we took in another beautiful cathedral and toured the remains of their ancient Roman bath. This was one of the best Roman sites that I have visited so far in my travels. They have succeeded greatly in maintaining the remaining structure and have added illustrations and digital imagery in the structures to complete the picture of what the bath originally looked like. We also had some free time in Bath to visit some shops and enjoy a coffee, tea or ice cream.
After a long but exciting day, we continue on into Wales for our overnight stop in Newport. We did not visit any sites here (I don’t think there really are any). We checked in at the Hilton Newport and cleaned ourselves up a bit before meeting in the lounge for a cocktail and then dinner, compliments of Globus.
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| Hampton Court |
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| Hampton Court Gardens |
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| Cathedral in Salisbury, England |
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| Stonehenge |
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| Roman Bath in Bath, England |
Day 4
Wednesday August 29, 2012 – Cardiff, Wales – Irish Sea crossing – Waterford, Ireland
This morning we set out for a quick stop in nearby Cardiff, Wales. Here we had free time to take in the majestic Cardiff Castle. Some folks entered the castle to take full tours while the others and I took it in from the outside and then spent the rest of our time visiting the shops on the town’s lovely pedestrian walkways.
We then continued on to the port to board our ferry for crossing the Irish Sea. Our crossing was…an experience. We were unlucky to find that the seas were abnormally choppy today making our ride very rough. Many of the travelers in our group found themselves battling extreme sea sickness for much of the ride. Luckily, I was one of the few that did not suffer from the experience.
We arrived into Ireland at the port of Rosslare and proceeded on to our next overnight stop in the Viking town of Waterford. Here we checked into the Granville Hotel, which is so far the favorite of most everyone in the group. It is a beautiful little hotel on the riverfront with beautifully decorated rooms and a great pub and restaurant.
Before turning in for the night, I joined some other members of group for my first beer of the trip, a Smithwicks, at a nearby pub.
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| Cardiff Castle |
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| Our Ferry |
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| view of Wales from the ferry |
Day 5
Thursday August 30, 2012 – Waterford – Blarney – Killarney
This morning tour in Waterford took us to the House of Waterford Crystal. Here we were taken on a guided tour of the factory where we learned about the different lines of crystal and observed the local workers as they created the world famous works of art. Afterward, we were given a good amount of time to shop in their showroom where much of our group treated themselves to some extravagant crystal pieces.
Next we drove on through the port city of Cork to our next stop in nearby Blarney. This was another one of my most anticipated visits as we would have the opportunity here to kiss the famous Blarney Stone. The legend says that anyone who kisses the Blarney Stone will be blessed with the gift of eloquence. What I didn’t know ahead of time was that the stone is houses in the wall at the top of the Blarney Castle. With a very long line for the activity, we were a bit concerned about whether we had enough time to wait and still make our meeting time 1hr and 45mins later. Since we were advised by the ticket seller that the wait was approximately one hour, we decided to go for it. Well, once you get to a certain point in the line, there is no turning back as you are navigating the steep and narrow stairways of the castle. The wait ended up being about 2hrs and 15mins which made us about 30 minutes late for our meeting time. Thankfully, most of the group and our tour director were very understanding and did not give us too much trouble for being late. I do have to say though that I don’t yet feel any more eloquent than before! You would think that kissing the stone on my birthday would surely guarantee that it worked!
From Blarney we continue on to our next stop in Killarney where we stayed for two nights. Killarney is a wonderful town of shops and pubs located in the southwest corner of Ireland. In recent years it has been voted as the favorite town in Ireland in a number of publications. Tonight much of the group took part in an optional excursion to Tralee for dinner and a show at the Siamsa Tire National Folk Theatre. I opted out of this one and enjoyed a nice evening on my own with some shopping and dinner of traditional Irish stew and a Guinness. J
From Blarney we continue on to our next stop in Killarney where we stayed for two nights. Killarney is a wonderful town of shops and pubs located in the southwest corner of Ireland. In recent years it has been voted as the favorite town in Ireland in a number of publications. Tonight much of the group took part in an optional excursion to Tralee for dinner and a show at the Siamsa Tire National Folk Theatre. I opted out of this one and enjoyed a nice evening on my own with some shopping and dinner of traditional Irish stew and a Guinness. J
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| Granville Hotel - Waterford, Ireland |
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| Worker at House of Waterford Crystal |
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| Crystals galore |
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| Blarney Castle |
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| me kissing the Blarney Stone |
Day 6
Friday August 31, 2012 – Killarney – Ring of Kerry Excursion
This morning the full group gathered for an included 100-mile panoramic drive around the Ring of Kerry. This is Irelands southwestern most tip. It is one of the most beautiful areas of Ireland with beautiful lakes, bays and coastlines and remote islands. We made a lunch stop at the scenic Scarriff Inn and then continued on around the ring to Lady's View where we took some fabulous shots of the Lakes of Killarney.
Upon our return to Killarney, a few folks took a horse-drawn jaunting car ride through the nearby park and visited the local castle. I opted to relax for a bit to prepare for this evenings excursion, a visit to wonderful hole in the wall pub – the Shantie. Here we enjoyed some traditional live Irish music from locals Paddy & Sadie, a couple of pints and some great craic (merriment – pronounced like “crack”). It is Ireland, after all, “Where the craic is mighty!”
Next stop, Dublin and then back over to England and Soctland!
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| lakes around Killarney |
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| Ring of Kerry islands |
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| Lakes of Killarney from Lady's View |
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| me at The Shantie |
