We wanted to check out another town in Ireland besides Dublin and Kilkenny caught my eye.  The train ride is about an hour and a half and it has a cool castle and some interesting churches as well as Smithwick’s brewery.  We took a tram to the train station and boarded the train right away.  You have to look above the seats to make sure someone’s name is … Continue reading Kilkenny, Ireland

This was my first time in Ireland and I was very excited.  We stayed at the Hard Rock Hotel, which is right next to the Dublin Castle and a lot of very popular eating and drinking spots.  They upgraded our room and I really enjoyed it.  The view of the street was amazing.  We were on the third floor.   We arrived around 4pm, so we went out for some … Continue reading Dublin, Ireland

We stayed in Harrogate, so we decided to tour around the Yorkshire area a bit.  First we drove to a few ruins. The first was Knaresborough Castle. It was built in the 1100s and was once where the killers of Thomas Beckett hid.  It was mostly torn down in the 1600s due to Parliment’s orders. You can go inside this section, but it was not open when … Continue reading England: Harrogate area

Today we decided to stay near our bed and breakfast and just check out the area.  We started by heading into Inverness to pick up our laundry that we dropped off the day before.  I wanted to check out Leakeys, which is a big second hand bookstore, but there was no parking.  We headed out to Culloden Battlefield.  It was mobbed with people.  I think there were about ten buses … Continue reading Scotland: Culloden, Cawdor, and Rait

Today we drove all around the Isle of Skye.  The drive up brings you by Loch Ness.  Yes, the one made famous by the Loch Ness Monster.  The loch is a lot bigger than I would have imagined.  The drive started with some intermittent rain, but cleared up by lunch time.  The roads were super busy.  We wanted to stop at one of the castles, but the parking lots were full.  We … Continue reading Scotland: Isle of Skye

I’m going to skip the day that we drove from Preston to Nairn. It was an all day adventure with one stop at Scone Castle in which we were not allowed to take pictures inside.  It was good for checking out and stretching our legs though.  We woke up early at our lovely Bed and Breakfast in Nairn called Sandown House.  It is in a cute town … Continue reading Scotland: Dunrobin Castle and up north

We drove to Caernarfon Castle this morning.  We parked outside of the city walls and were able to use our credit card to do so.  We walked around to the entrance of the castle and paid 25 pounds for the two of us.  We were told that the castle would be open until 6pm and we could come and go as we pleased as long as we kept … Continue reading Exploring Northern Wales (Day 2)

We took a breather from sight seeing this morning and left the bed and breakfast around 11:30.  We like where we are staying, but even though we had two fans and an open window, we are still overheating while we are sleeping! We got up early to eat breakfast in the allotted time and then came back to the room for a nap!   We drove to … Continue reading Exploring Wales (Day 1)

We drove all the way up to Edinburgh just to find out that the Jacobite train would not be running the next day.  We were really bummed out, but the tickets are sold out and so are the tours until after we leave.  We decided to just head back to Chester and see some castles and Rosalyn Chapel on the way. My husband wanted to see the … Continue reading England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland: Drive back to Chester

Our first stop was Lancaster Castle.  We quickly learned that it was used as a prison from the 1200s to 2011.  We took the tour, which cost 2.50 pounds per person.  (There was a family discount rate.) The tour was only a half an hour and you get to enter two sections of the prison.  The tour guide had a quirky way of telling us its history and I … Continue reading England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland: Drive to Edinburgh