European Vacation - Part 1

Owing to the many reports which have been put in circulation by curious and interested individuals, I have been induced to write this history of our trip to Ireland, Wales and England, in order to put all inquirers after truth in possession of the facts, as they have transpired, or as they at present exist, so far as I have such facts in my possession.

In other words, Jacob and I went to Ireland, Wales and England. This is what happened.

(You'd have thought I could just say that, right?)

Jacob is in what's called Signet at Gainesville Middle School. It's the advanced class for kids who are a little above average (must have gotten that from his mom). Hannah is in Signet, too.

Last year they decided they were going to Europe and Jacob expressed an interest in going. So, being the dutiful parents we are, we started paying for it a little at a time.

Kelly and I decided that we weren't going to send Jacob to Europe by himself, so after a lot of back and forth and some paper/rocks/scissors, it was decided that I would go with him. Yea, I know. Darn!

We finally left on June 27th aboard British Airways bound for Heathrow Airport in London. The flight was a good 7-8 hours long, but we were able to watch movies and television and read some stories, so it wasn't that bad (except for the kid sitting next to me who couldn't sit still to save his life). Here's a picture of Jacob on the plane.

When we landed at Heathrow we had three hours to burn before our next flight to Shannon, Ireland. I thought we'd be sitting at the gate, twiddling our thumbs, for at least 2 hours. Little did I know.

Security at Heathrow is unbelievable. First they take you through customs. Then you walk about fifteen minutes and have to get your picture taken. Then you walk another fifteen minutes or so and have them look at your passport and compare it with the picture they just took. Then you have to take a bus ride to your new gate that is right next to the gate you're in, but to get there you have to ride the bus, literally, for another fifteen minutes. When we finally got to our gate, we have about ten minutes to spare.

When we finally touched down in Shannon, it was raining and nasty. I think the thing they should have told us, right then and there, was to get ready to see the same thing every day for the next week. It rained EVERY DAY (except the last one, of course, when we were sitting in the airport to come home). It wasn't a constant rain, nor was it a hard rain. But rain it did. But compared to the 100+ degrees they had at home while we were gone, I'll take it every time.

After a short bus ride, we stopped in a town called Bunratty. Yes, I know. Silly name. But in Irish it actually means "bottom" or "end" of the Ratty River. We stopped, ate lunch at the cafe (our first encounter with the enchanting Irish accent), and took pictures. To the right is one of Jacob in front of the castle.

Bunratty was an extremely engaging town. We saw our first street performers there, we actually used the Euros we'd bought in the United States, and like I said before, we listened to the Irish accent with which we'd shortly become enthralled. I had responsibility for Jacob and three other boys. One of them was so "enthralled" with it that he actually went up to a girl at the lunch counter and tried to talk her up. She just laughed at him, but it was a valiant try.

Killarney, which was the first town we actually stayed in, was our next stop. Along the way we saw several more castles, including the one on the left. I wish I'd written down the name of the town it was in, but I think it was Limerick. If not, I'm sure someone someday will correct me.

After about a full day of traveling (man, was I bushed!) we finally made it to Killarney.

It's a relatively small town, but it sure is beautiful. Too bad you couldn't see much of it from my window. All you could see was the next door neighbor's house, as evidenced by the picture to the right!

We stayed in a small bed and breakfast called Glena House. It's picture is below. Not the nicest place in the world, but it was comfortable and very close to the center of town.

Jacob and I walked up there several times in our three days in Killarney, once to get him some pizza (at about 10 o'clock at night), once to get him some Burger King (yes, they had one), and once to go shopping for a few things (and to hit BK one more time).

We both felt totally safe the whole time and enjoyed ourselves very, very much....despite the rain.

The only thing I had to contend with that first night was my roommate. I won't go into details with his name and all that, but suffice it to say that he's a loud sleeper. Nicest guy in the world. I roomed with him the whole time, and thought he was a great guy. May I just say, though, that I'm glad I took ear plugs? See if you can hear my roomie snoring in the Youtube video to the left.

Part II - The Ring of Kerry