Europe '06, Second Installment: Stonehenge and Eire

Trying to connect up with people in a foreign country is always a bit challenging, especially when you underestimate travel times. I had planned to meet my brother at Gatwick airport just outside the customs area, but apparently that point wasn't well communicated (plus I wasn't there when he arrived anyway). We had a couple of things working against us that morning: I hadn't allotted enough time for the train ride from London and Corey somehow had the first bag on the carousel and breezed through the customs line. Turns out my bother's smarter than he looks (just kidding) and was able to have me paged over the intercom. I found him at the information desk and was greeted with a BIG HUG! Without wasting another minute, we started our adventure together.

Our first destination was Salisbury, England to visit Stonehenge. (Not yet one of the Seven Wonders of the World, but maybe soon.) Although he had really been looking forward to seeing the circle of rocks, Corey wasn't that impressed with the actual things. I had fortunately been warned that it's not as big as it looks in pictures and thought it was interesting, but was quickly bored with the audio commentary.


That evening we continued on to Bath, arriving just in time to see the final minutes of the US loss to the Czech Republic. As it was a little late when we finally got into town, the tourist office was already closed for the night (a problem we ran into in the future, as well). Walking down the main street we did find a Backpacker's Hostel and were able to get a couple of beds for the night. We had a wonderful dinner at a Thai restaraunt across the street. The best part of dinner was the conversation! The tables to either side of us were so close that only one couple could talk at any given time. And while they talked, everyone else listened.

The next morning we grabbed some pastries and bread at a bakery and took the train back to Gatwick to catch a flight to Cork, Ireland. Hiking up and down the hills of this city in search of a hostel we soon became tired and a little hostel ourselves. About to give up, we were approached by another American (a.k.a. Quentin Tarantino, as Corey affectionally refers to him). "Are you guys looking for a youth hostel?" Walking around with a huge bag strapped to your back does have some perks, I guess. After purchasing some refreshing beverages, Quentin walked us back to the hostel. Turns out we had passed by it a couple of times, missing the small sign on the wall. The hostel was great, so I suppose it was worth the effort. For dinner that night we ate at a little place called Kelly's and were reminded of our lovely sister:)

The highlight of the Irish portion of our trip was the visit to Blarney Castle. Okay, sure, we kissed the stone...but the town, the castle, and the surrounding countryside were really beautiful. We took a cab ride back to Cork (great conversation with the driver) and hopped on a bus to the Kilkenny (hard to not think of Southpark here).







After a couple of nights of searching for a hostel we were excited about the fact that we already had reservations for this night--in a 15th century castle!!! Unfortunately, the map provided by the hostel wasn't very detailed and the tourist office was (of course) closed. After walking for about a mile towards the hostel we met a very nice older couple on the street and asked for directions. While we were on the right path, we were still about 6 miles from the castle! So back we walked to the city center to catch a cab (yet another great conversation). The castle was really interesting, but in the middle of NOWHERE. As Corey and I didn't want to go back into town for dinner, we had a picnic of peanut butter sandwiches in the courtyard with another American traveler we met, TJ. The next morning we were able to get a ride back into town with TJ (as he had rented a car for his travels around Ireland). The three of us wandered around the town of Kilkenny for a couple of hours that morning before Corey and I took the train to Dublin.


Our visit to Dublin was limited to the bus ride from the train station to the airport, from which we would be flying to Milan, Italy.