Another intensified weekend....

Unfortunately I never had a chance this past week to give you a complete synopsis of my time in Ireland before coming to another exciting weekend.  So I think I will quickly try to summarize the trip to Ireland....

Our small group of seven left the Parliament building in London at about 6:30 to catch a train to Holyhead, Wales.  From Holyhead we were to take a ferry that took us straight into Dublin. Thanks to a delayed train out of London, we arrive at our first transfer station late so instead of catching the next train, the information desk set us up with a taxi to what we thought was just the next train station. Come to find out the taxi was just going to take us straight to Holyhead, a good 2+ hour journey by car.  Being that it was free of charge due to the delayed train, we got a free roadtrip through Wales, with the only downside being that it was at night.  None the less we arrived in Holyhead after attempting to sleep in a taxi that was jamming techno music and caught out ferry with plenty of time to spare.  I've never seen such great customer service take care of a group of seven people so quickly and with no questions asked other than "Where is your final destination?"......Amazing!

So our group arrived in Dublin bright and early at 6am after a night of sleeping in Taxis and ferrys and set off to find our hotel.  After a long excursion we finally found our bearings and checked in (after we sat in the lobby for 30min and annoyed the desk attendant apparently since she had originally said it would be a few hours until our room was ready.) Five out of the seven people crashed in the room as we were freshening up, so my loyal travel buddy, Karen (been to D.C. and Korea with) set off for the day in hopes of later meeting up with the remainder of the group at the Guinness Brewery.  Unfortunately the other didn't wake up in enough time to catch us at the brewery, so Karen and I spent the day together wandering the city.  It was a beautiful day with only a few random rain showers.  We managed to see most of the city's west side to include Christ's Church, Church of Dublin, St. Patrick's Cathedral, and of course the Guinness Brewery.  It was an amazing day and Karen and I decided to call it quits after stuffing ourselves with Guinness and a good old fashion Irish dinner.

The following day, we set off as a group to explore the east side of the city, specifically Trinity College.  About midday, we stopped by an information booth because Cara, one of the girls in our group had a friend that traveled extensively around Ireland and made a few recommendations.  One of his recommendations included a 30 minute train ride from the city to a town called Howth.  This city was right on the water, meaning there were no objections to venture off and explore. After finding the train station and getting the information needed, we managed to gather up the group and catch a train within seconds of the doors closing to Howth.  It was well worth the journey. The Irish coast is beautiful and it was a great break away from the busy city. The seven of us explored the beach (not really sand but a lot of really smooth rocks and pebbles) and saw a path leading along the cliffs that eventually led to stairs at the top of the cliffs.  Our group set off and took a large amount of photos along the way, extremely fascinated with the beautiful coast. With the intentions of climbing the stairs at the end of the path, we paid little attention the slow rising tide.  Unfortunately when we reached the end of the path, we realized that the stairs were a foe and really lead no where as the top was blocked off.  After gaining that knowledge, we set off back the way we came where little of the path we had taken to get to the stairs was actually remaining.  Normally this wouldn't be the worst situation one would find themselves stuck in, however our group had all been carrying our large backpacks and gifts that we bought in Dublin, meaning our journey through the cliffs and water was that much more tedious. Being the tough, fun, and careless group that we were we safely made it back with only a few bangs and bruises along the way.  Talk about and adrenaline rush!! Thankfully we were able to make it back in time for our train to the ferry port, again with only a few seconds to spare.....

That's the simplified version of our journey.  One of the most exciting and fun trips I've had with a group of seven people that I barely knew.  Now on to this past weekend....

Our Oxford group was schedule for a trip on Saturday to Woodstock.  In Woodstock the only real attraction besides a quaint, beautiful little city was the Blenheim Palace. Our group spent the day exploring the palace that was the palace of the Churchill family for many years.  The palace was beautiful and there were many walking paths throughout the property that contain rose gardens, waterfalls, and many other scenic areas.  The set up of the whole palace made me feel as if I had been taken back into the Jane Austen times of Pride & Prejudice.  It was amazing and yet another great break from the big city! There were other entertaining areas such as a playground area that had a huge maze, large chess and checker boards, and many other fun and games.  

Although the palace was exciting, the best was yet to come.  In the evening, there was an event called the Battle Proms that our group also attended. It was pretty much a large celebration for all of the successful wars that Britain has won over the years, so the evening was filled with reenactments, an orchestra, cannons synchronized to fire off with the orchestra, a Spitfire plane demonstration, and plenty of fireworks! It was an overwhelming and breathtaking night all in one! And the best part was that it didn't rain!!!

As you can see my time in England is being well spent, but it is definitely super busy.  The school portion of my time here is keeping me more busy that I would like, but that's what school does for you.  The group as a whole is a lot more "cliquy" than some of the other group travel that I have done in the past, but for the most part we all get along, there is just a huge variation in personalities that keeps us doing different things instead of traveling collectively. Ironically, for those of you who know me best, my closest group of friends here are four girls. Normally I'm the tomboy hanging out with the guys, but for once these four girls are so much fun and don't care for the dramas of life that we all get along great!! So don't worry about me, it's all going well on my end.  But for now, it's long past my bedtime so I should probably get some sleep.  Sorry for the super long blog, but so much has happened that I didn't want you to miss out on any of the excitement that I wanted to share!!!

A view behind the Blenheim Palace with the gardens

I'm not a much of a flower person, but the Rose Garden was so beautiful!

A cute horse from the Cavalry reenactment

The cannons going off during a Beethoven piece

Proud Britons showing their pride during the festival