Dublin bound

Sunday we caught the train from Belfast to Dublin - took about 2 hours and was a much nicer way to go instead of bus. We ended up going to the wrong train station (I was slightly unprepared...) but we still managed to get on the train in time!

Monday was an orientation tour around Dublin and a visit to the Guinness Storehouse. Followed by some beer and dinner at the Porterhouse. Both very enjoyable - and Tracey managed to down her pint of Guinness at the same pace as me - most impressive!

Tuesday was a trip to Croke Park and a tour of Kilmainham Gaol. Both of which I've done before, but still really enjoyed them. Again we got a bit lost finding Croke Park but we got there in the end...

Interesting landing coming back into Heathrow as our Aer Lingus flight pulled up at the last minute from the runway and we had to circle back around. Then we saw another Aer Lingus flight do the same thing... most strange.

Tracey at Croke Park

Tracey at Croke Park
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

Tracey pitchside, with Hill 16 in the background.

Kilkeel

On Saturday we got a bus to Newcastle and from there on to Kilkeel. We had an hour to kill in Newcastle so we went for a stroll along the seafront - where the Mountains of Mourne sweep down to the sea... The weather was a bit grim (as you can see in the photos!), but it didn't actually rain much.

Despite Kilkeel being a fishing town, Tracey and I managed to not be able to find the harbour... But we did have an incredibly delicious lunch of fish & chips, and then wandered around for a couple of hours. Its a fairly bleak town though - I wouldn't want to be a teenager there...

Not so much fun was the drunk man on the bus from Newcastle to Kilkeel - kept asking where we were from, where was the bus going and could he have our sunglasses...

The mountains of Mourne sweeping down to the sea - Newcastle

The mountains of Mourne sweeping down to the sea - Newcastle
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

Back to our roots

We flew out to Belfast on Friday night - flying EasyJet from Gatwick and it really wasn't delayed that much at all. I think we were very lucky!

Our taxi driver into town had a plastic tiki hanging from his rearview mirror - turns out he is a NZer who has lived in Belfast for about 30 years - so he certainly didn't sound like a Kiwi!

I see a little silhouette of a man...

We Will Rock You is possibly one of the most cheesiest musicals around - but it was great! A very thin story pieced together around Queen's greatest hits - fantastic! Again we had great seats, and we were all up singing at the end - Tracey more than me and Maya, but we did get up!

I am now really quite keen to get Queen's Greatest Hits...

Nail biter!

On Thursday me, Tracey and Kevin headed off to the Oval to watch the Black Caps vs England in a one-day international.

Our seats were only 3 rows back from the pitch (is it a pitch for cricket?) which was great. I'm sure we must have ended up on tv!

Absolutely brilliant game - I've never been at such a nail biter before! To go right down to the last ball on the last over... and then to win through an English error! There were lots of very cross English fans as we left the ground...

And off we go to Austria... Innsbruck highlights

We got the train from Salzburg to Innsbruck - I dozed but Tracey enjoyed the views I think! Highlights included:

• The cable cars and going up to the skiing areas. Fantastic views - and the cable cars were just well cool!
• The expedition to Achensee - "home" of The Chalet School. From the steam train that pushed us up the hill(!), to actually seeing the places the book was based on. Maybe slightly nerdy but for two sisters who used to get so excited when we found a book we didn't have at a church fair we were very excited!
• Swarovski Kristallwelten - I'm not even that big a fan of Swarovski, but this place was cool! Lots of lovely sparkly bling to look at... and I even bought some!

• Disappointment was the ski-jump being closed as they had turned it in to a fanzone for Euro 2008. So my pics on Flickr were as close as we could get :-(
  

Crystal tree - Swarovski

Crystal tree - Swarovski
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

Pretty sparkly bling...

Tracey in the carriage

Tracey in the carriage
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

Waiting to head up to Achensee

Conductor checking tickets - while the train is moving

Conductor checking tickets - while the train is moving
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

Checking tickets en route...

Enjoying a beer on high!

Enjoying a beer on high!
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

What a fab spot to enjoy a Stiegl!

And off we go to Austria... Salzburg highlights

Which is not part of Germany just in case you were wondering... (Our guide for the Sound of Music tour was most insistent on that!).

I can't do a full on post on the whole week so here are the highlights - lots of photos on Flickr...

• The aforementioned Sound of Music tour. Great fun - even not being a die-hard fan it was still good!
• The Spaniards!! Euro 2008 was on while we were there and Spain was playing Greece in Salzburg. They were the best bunch of fans - so entertaining! And they went on to win the whole tournament (beating Germany in the final), which made both me and Tracey very happy!
• Stiegl beer - yum yum
• Schloss Hellbrunn. Trick fountains were such fun, and we were there on a very hot afternoon. Brilliant.
  
• Learning about Red Bull - well not much, but it is made in Austria, and they do have a thing about bulls in that country... There is a model of one at the Fortress as apparently when they were under siege and down to their last bull they painted the same one different colours and paraded it along the battlements to fool the besiegers that they had lots of food. So the besiegers went home...
  

Me and the view

Me and the view
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

From the battlements of the fortress

The Bull

The Bull
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

Aforementioned bull!

Portsmouth Naval Memorial

On Sunday we headed down to Portsmouth to see the Naval memorial, where Mum's cousin Tom Willetts is remembered as one of the crew who went down with The Hood. I'd always been meaning to go down to take a look and send some new photos home - guess I just thought I had more time. So Tracey and I did it together which was lovely.

Even now the number of people named on these memorials is quite staggering - and a lot of the panels still had fresh flowers placed by them, or had recently had new plaques added in.

Thought this was very interesting!

Thought this was very interesting!
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

This one was just interesting! I've googled it tho and there doesn't seem to be much of a story there - but obviously there is as this was only placed there in 2002...

Portsmouth Naval War Memorial

Portsmouth Naval War Memorial
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

The plaques at the bottom list the sailors names. This is just WWII - there is another piece of it dealing with WW1...

Mum's cousin

Mum's cousin
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

I never promised you a rose garden...

But we went anyway...

Tracey had found out about the Royal National Society Rose Gardens so we headed off out there on the Sat. The weather was looking a bit dodgy but it didn't rain. Given that the summer here is not shaping up to be too much, and the fact that the garden had only just opened for the season, there were quite a lot of flowers out.

Some of the scents were gorgeous - it was well worth a trip.

Purple! Lovely...

Purple! Lovely...
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

Have no idea what this is, but it was purple and very cool!

Tracey and roses...

Tracey and the archway
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

Stunning rose

Stunning rose (2)
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

Wicked!

The first of the two musicals we saw was Wicked - which was just great! Fantastic seats (thanks Tracey!), and the show was really well done. Not quite as political as the book, and the happy ending was a bit 'Hollywood' for me, but on the whole it was a really good adaptation.

And I guess with a musical you have to give it a happy ending...

I wouldn't fancy playing Elphaba though - having to green up every day must be really bad for your skin...

Tut Tut Tut

Tracey and I went to this after work - which was great. And not busy at all. Friends of mine had been during the weekend and apparently it was heaving, but Tracey and I got to wander around almost by ourselves.

Some quite amazing artefacts - lots of gold! Quite a lot of it which he would have worn in life as well which is just sort of mind blowing really...

Sunday 8th June...

VERY slow day for me... But we tidied up before we left - but lugging all my presents home was hard work when I was really suffering...

But it was worth it :-)

Debris

Debris (1)
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

What a lot of empty bottles - where did it all go??

Lindsey the morning after

Lindsey the morning after
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

Essential kit for the morning after - sunglasses! Now where is the Irn Bru...

Simon the morning after

Simon the morning after
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

The host no doubt relieved that it is all over with!

Post party brunch

Post party brunch
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

I tried to eat - but it was pretending more than anything!

7th June - now why is that important again...?

It's my birthday of course!!

I had a fantastic day. It fell on a Sat and as it was a momentous age I decided to 'reclaim' my day - the theme was 'Its all about me...' and it absolutely was!

Lindsey came down from Glasgow on the Friday night, so on Sat morning I had a chilled out time with her and Tracey opening all the presents my wonderful family had given Tracey to bring over, plus the ones from Lindsey and Tracey of course. And then Kevin turned up with more gifts... :-)

We headed off to Simon's place to get ready for the BBQ - I have a fab friend who so generously let me use his house for the party - it was great having such a wonderful space (both indoors and outdoors) to use. And the weather behaved - it wasn't boiling hot, but it didn't rain!

I had a great day - everyone turned up, everyone got along and we all ate much food and drank lots of Pimms and bubbles (Lindauer of course!). And then when it got dark we had an open fire and danced on the deck... finally staggering off to bed just as the sun was coming up...

So not so well the next day - but I had never planned to be! Some photos below, and more on Flickr...

Tracey & Julia dancing - about 3am

Tracey & Julia dancing - about 3am
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

I think I was attempting to get a bit arty by going black and white...

Enjoying the bubbles and beer...

Kristie, Tracey, Chris, Maya, Sophy, Mhairi and Jackie
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

The Deck crew...

Me & Julia cracking open the bubbles

Me & Julia cracking open the bubbles
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

Now the fun starts!

The Gals: Maya, Tracey, Lindsey & Julia

The Gals: Maya, Tracey, Lindsey & Julia
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

Early on - the sun is out, we've got our Pimms - all is right with the world!

Cake baker extraordinaire!

Cake baker extraordinaire! (2)
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

Mhairi and the fab cake she made for me - chocolate honey cake. Everyone LOVED it!!

Lindsey, Tracey, me, Julia & Simon

Lindsey, Tracey, me, Julia & Simon
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

Couldn't have done it without these guys - and Owen taking the photo!

Tracey & me

Tracey & me
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

All frocked up and waiting for the guests to arrive...

And then there were two...

On June 3rd Tracey arrived for her big UK adventure :-).

First up was a ride on the London Eye and then a stroll around the streets of London in my attempt to get her an idea of how London is laid out. Not sure how well it worked out, but we had a lovely time strolling around!

I also saw the new Battle of Britain memorial on the Embankment which I hadn't seen before. I think I have a thing for war memorials, but I found it very moving.

Street art on Tate Modern

Street art on Tate Modern (1)
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

Fantastic street art on the walls of the Tate

Tracey outside the Houses of Parliament

Tracey outside the Houses of Parliament
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

In full on sight-seeing mode!

Battle of Britain memorial

Battle of Britain memorial (2)
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

Tracey in the pod

Tracey in the pod
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

With Westminster and Big Ben behind her...