May 14th

We tidied our rental home, and boarded a private van for a trip to Gatwick Airport, where Mom and Sam would depart for Orlando, and Poodle and Melon would depart for Cork, Ireland.

Our trip to Cork started out a bit shaky, with our Ryan Air flight a bit delayed, and sitting on the tarmac with no A/C for a good 30 minutes, but we eventually made it to the beautiful and tiny Cork airport, where we picked up our rented BMW 5 series (hey, you've gotta live it up a little!) and sat in the parking lot for 20 minutes while Melon wrote post-it notes to tell her how to make left and right turns, and remind herself to stay on the left side.

We drove  two hours from Cork to Tralee, and the scenery was lovely.  We only hit one thing with our car mirrors on the narrow streets (thank you for the Super Collision Waver insurance!), and did not enter the wrong lane a single time!

We spent the evening at Ballyseede Castle in Tralee, a real castle that was originally built in the 1500's.  Our reservation was for a room with two single beds, but they didn't have any, so they gave us two separate rooms with queen beds.  My room is the "Japanese" room, and has lovely paintings of Japanese art on the walls.  Poodle's room is the "Shaw" room which has brocade wallpaper, and some George Bernard Shaw quotes on the walls.  I overlook the front of the castle, and the field where the mules and Shetland ponies are wandering about, and Poodle overlooks the back garden with an amazing Gazebo and humongous rhododendrons.

We had an amazing 5 course dinner in the castle restaurant (no dress code, thank goodness!) with local beef and fish.  It was wonderful.  We returned to our (separate!) rooms, whereupon I discovered that my room has excellent wi-fi access (the best of our whole trip) which has allowed me to post these posts!  Hooray!

Unfortunately no pictures yet, those will need to be posted after we return, but I think we will have some really lovely photos of the castle and grounds, as well as the other things we do in Ireland.

May 13th

This is our last day in London!  We had a 12:00pm reservation at the Warner Brothers Studio Tour, so we boarded a train, a subway, another train, and a bus to make it to Watford Junction.  All of us were seasoned adventurers of the amazing Harry Potter ride and experience at Universal Studios, so we had fairly low expectations for the studio tour.  Our expectations were blown away from the moment we stepped into THE GREAT HALL AT HOGWARTS.  The whole tour (we spent 3.5 hours there) was absolutely amazing, and filled with incredible props from the movies.  We take for granted that a lot of what goes into films these days is CGI, but the Harry Potter movies used a ton of handmade items, including books, puppets, huge sets, and amazing models and costumes.

We took so many pictures that our cameras ran out of batteries and we had to switch to our cell phones.  All in all, it was an amazing experience, and aside from Clue Quest, which we did on Day 1, it was easily the highlight of our trip.  We took the 90 minute transit route back into the city, and Laura and Sam split off to visit a bookshop and restaurant in Hampstead while Mom and I headed back to the house to play boardgames and eat a light supper at home.

All in all, a fabulous trip.  There is so much that we did not get to do, that we will definitely need to come again.  (hint hint.)

May 12th

Today was spent in Paris.  We took a series of busses through some of London's less posh neighborhoods, and made it to St. Pancras International in time to pick up our tickets and board the 7:00am Eurostar.  Poodle and Melon slept the whole time, while Mom and Sam read and chatted with strangers.  Once we arrived in Paris, we were greeted by our tour guide, Johanna, a petite blonde woman with a fabulous plaid trench coat, a tiny, french-accented voice, and a hot pink umbrella to follow her by.  She escorted a group of about 15 of us to our tour bus, and we travelled through the city of Paris by bus. It was a whirlwind 2 hour tour of some of Paris' most famous sites, including the Moulin Rouge, Arc de Triumph, and, of course, the Eiffel Tower.  We exited the bus at the Eiffel Tower, and took the elevator to the second floor for sweeping views of the whole city.

After taking lots of pictures (to be posted upon our return -- my camera is out of batteries, so I can't post them), we headed down the street to a café and ordered some baguettes and eclairs to go, and purchased some gifts for family and friends back home.

We then boarded our bus again, and headed to the Seine for a river cruise.  On that trip we saw several beautiful buildings, the Musee d'Orsay, the Louvre, the Notre Dame Cathedral.  Unfortunately, it was raining during our cruise, so we were not able to take any photos, because the glass was full of raindrops.  It was still a lovely memory.

After our river cruise, we re-boarded our tour bus, and headed to the Louvre, which was gigantic, hot, crowded, and not meant to be seen in the span of two hours.  We made our way up to the famous Mona Lisa, and then turned back around and spent the rest of our time in the shops in the gallery.  Overall, Poodle and I would prefer a trip to the Musee d'Orsay (more contemporary works) and Mom and Sam would have preferred a natural history museum.  I would have been perfectly happy at the Louvre, if it wasn't so darn crowded with people who were completely oblivious about personal space.  C'est la vie!

After the Louvre, we re-boarded our bus and headed back to the train station to catch the Eurostar back to London.  We made it back home by 10:30, and headed to bed.

May 11th

Today was a day of frustration.  It started late, because Sam wanted to see the Doctor Who visitor center thingy, and Watermelon and Poodle could not be bothered.  We were told they were "heading out early" so Poodle and I snoozed until 11:00.  We discovered that they set out at 9:30, which was not actually early, so Poodle was in a foul mood, because she "wasted a whole morning."  Eventually, we all met up at the Hard Rock Café in Hyde Park, where we experienced our first meltdowns of the trip.  They were minor, and driven largely by exhaustion and over as quickly as they started.  It turns out Mom and Sam took 3 trains and a bus to the Doctor Who shop, only to discover it was not open on Sundays.  Oops.  This is what happens when you have to live in a world with no internet.

After the Hard Rock, we made our way back downtown, and tried to get into the London Dungeon.  Unfortunately, it was closed earlier than the website said it would be, so we wandered around for a full hour trying to find the doors, and gave up when we realized it was closed.

We headed home, and went to the O2 area to eat a dinner of Tapas, which was totally decent.  Our poor waiter was the only one working the floor, and it was super busy, when a pair of ladies got super mad and said they weren't paying for their meals.  Security was called, it was a whole big thing.  Our waiter was wonderful, and we tipped him extra and told him what a great job he was doing.  We made it home by 9:30, so that we could get to bed early.  Tomorrow, we would be leaving for Paris.  We had to leave the house at 4:30 in order to catch the busses we needed to meet the Eurostar.  Unfortunately, the trains in London are DEFINITELY not 24 hours.

May 10th

We set off from the house around 9:30, and made it into London proper by 10:15ish.  We headed to Charring Cross station and looked for some place to eat.  We settled on Café Rouge, a local French-ish chain.  The breakfast wasn't very good, but at least it made us less "hangry."

After breakfast we walked over to the tourist center to purchase our bus tickets, and decided to camp out on the guided tour bus.  Our guide, "Uncle Barry" was in his 80's and a bit cheeky.  We saw all of the major landmark sites from the comfort of our open-air bus.  The weather was mostly cooperative, but after a good half hour, we scored the front seats on the top of the bus, which are covered, and offer panoramic views.

After our tour, we were hungry again, so we ate what the Britons consider "Mexican Food."   It was okay, but it was definitely lacking the authenticity we've grown used to in the US.

Then we made our way on the Tube to the Sherlock Holmes Museum at 221b Baker Street.  This is less of a Sherlock Holmes museum, and more of a creepy assemblage of victorian furniture, and weird dioramas depicting scenes from Sherlock Holmes stories.  There were even creepy waxwork figures.  In my opinion, it is not worth a visit.  The gift shop has some nice things if you're into Mr. Holmes, however, and it is absolutely free to enter.

After our trip to 221b Baker Street, we made our way to Oxford Circus, where Laura got her turn to shop 'til she dropped.  Mom and I sat around Marks and Spencer's café drinking Tea while she and Sam shopped around.  Afterward, we made our way to Leicester Square, where Loo and Sam got their silhouettes made by a street artist.  He used scissors to make them, and they were very good.

Then we ate at the Porcupine pub near Leicester Square, and made our way to the Price Charles Theater, where we watched The Goonies quote-along.

We made it home around midnight, with a fit of the giggles from exhaustion and inside jokes.

May 9th

Today, we got up around 9:30 to head into London to do some exploring.  We decided to check out Camden Market, which has kind of an alternative vibe.  Lots of girly goth / steampunk dresses, black, and plaid.  Piercing accessories, tattoo parlors, etc.  Sam stocked up on super girly dresses, and the rest of us experienced shopping fatigue.

We ate lunch at a little pub right across from the main stalls of Camden Market.  It was decent, but not remarkable.

After we tired of shopping, we headed back to the house so Poodle and Sam could get ready to go back out for the evening to see the dude who plays Moriarty in the BBC show Sherlock in some weird play that involved a slowly sinking stage… They stayed to take a photo with the star at the end of the show, and he was incredibly polite and friendly.

Mom and I stayed near our apartment, and took the bus from the house on an adventure to find food.  We just jumped on the bus, and headed to the O2 center, where we ate some touristy italian food.  We wandered out to the river to watch some of those sky-borne people movers crossing the thames, as well as some large foot ferries.

We took the bus back to the house and played a low-key game of Carcassonne.  Sam and Laura got back much earlier than expected.  We thought they would be heading out to a bar after the show to try to find their future British husbands, but apparently the bars all close super early, because the trains stop running around midnight.  They were home before 11:30, and we set an early-ish rendezvous for Saturday morning, to begin a hop-on-hop-off bus tour.

May 8th

Our second day in London was a bit subdued, due to the fact that we couldn't get Sam or Danielle out of bed until 2:00pm.  :)

Fortunately experienced traveler and planning nazi Danielle had built the sleeping-in into the schedule, so our first plans for the day did not start until 4:30… well, actually, they started at 4:00, but she was certain they started at 4:30… and since she can't get her data plan to work, she spent the two hours prior to leaving for the afternoon on the phone with tech support.

NOTE: when you are jetlagged, in a foreign country, and have plans in the next two hours, DO NOT CALL TECH SUPPORT.  You will not be a pleasant person to be around.

Anyway, Danielle hung up on tech support so we could make it to our afternoon appointment at 4:30, for the Mad Hatter Afternoon Tea at the Sanderson Hotel.  She had planned for the group to leave at 3:15 to give them an extra 15 minutes buffer in case they had to wait for trains.  At 3:15, she double-checked the reservation to confirm the address, and saw that it was for 4:00pm.  OOPS!  The 15 minute buffer quickly became "15 minutes fashionably late."  So they took a cab from London Bridge station, and made it around 4:10.  Fortunately the restaurant was also running late, so they offered us a free glass of champagne, and the opportunity to cool our heels in the very fancy bar area.

The tea room was lovely, if a bit modern, and not as campy as some in our party had hoped for.  The company was wonderful, the food was mediocre, and the service was awful.  We actually asked them to remove the service charge, it was so bad.

We had the usual finger sandwiches, tiny quiche, and mini scones.  For dessert there were Victoria sponge cakes, cheese cakes with an attempt at being cosmopolitain (there was a mango gelee in the shape of an egg yolk inside of the cheesecake, it exploded all over the plate when you hit it with your fork), little chocolate teacups filled with a delightful mousse, and some very weird bright orange meringue carrots.  There was also a cute potion bottle with a label that said "drink me," the contents of which were absolutely foul.  We tried to keep a straight face while tricking each other into trying it.  It was allegedly comprised of three layers (from the bottom up): some kind of mango / passion fruit smoothie (room temperature), coconut panna cotta (also room temperature), some other top layer that no one remembers, because the first two were so awful.  I don't know if this is something that is enjoyed in London, but room temperature dairy liquid/gels are not delicious.

The nice British ladies at the table next to us agreed it was terrible service, and that they had higher expectations as well.  Oh well, I cannot say I would recommend that particular High Tea experience to other travelers in the future, but you certainly must have tea somewhere!

Overall: Suka Mad Hatter Tea at the Sanderson Hotel:

Theme - 4 stars
Food - 2 stars
Atmosphere - 3 stars (too stuffy, not campy enough)
Service - (-)2 stars


<<More details about the following events to be added after we return, no time right now>>
THEN Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, after some drinks at the pub across the street.
Café Rouge
Emergency cab ride to "Midnight Train to Westcombe"