2008 - United Kingdom
July 18th - August 3rd
2008 - United Kingdom - Day 1 - Hampton Court, Windsor Castle, and Runnymede
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I arrived in SLC at 7:15 am on Friday. Mom got there about an hour later. Our flight was scheduled to depart SLC at 11:15 am. We got some breakfast while we waited and I read some in book. Once we boarded I fell asleep. Apparently we sat grounded for another 45 mins but I wasn’t aware of it. When I woke up, I watched Nim’s Island and read more. We arrived in Atlanta around 5:15 pm. We went right to our next gate. We had a few minutes so I walked back to a McD’s I saw and got us a couple snack wraps and ice-cream. As soon as I was walking back to the gate they were boarding. Yet again though we were grounded for 45 mins while trying to determine why a warning light wouldn’t turn off. The flight was 8.5 hours to London. I was able to sleep around 3-4 hours of that time. We arrived in London at 8:30 am. From there we got on our buses and went to Hampton Court. It was built in the early 1500’s by Cardinal Woolsey. First owner was King Henry the 8th with his 6 wives. We spent 2.5 hours walking through all the rooms and the beautiful gardens. There was a grape vine there in a glass house planted back in the 1780’s, still producing tons of grapes. I was amazed. That castle was huge and complex and we kept getting turned around. We didn’t even have time to see all of it, it was so big. But I really enjoyed it. Queen Elizabeth the first, Bloody Mary, King James….all lived there. Next we went on to Windsor Palace. It was the castle where the kings and queens have lived since the 1100’s. The state rooms were very fancy. It’s not as big as Hampton Court, but probably more fancy. Queen Elizabeth the second was there today, the flag was up on the tower which means she was staying there. We could only go in certain areas of the castle. We also walked though St. George’s chapel, where several royal and noble people are buried. The more modern kings and queens from probably 200 years ago and up had beautiful sarcophagi. There earlier kings and queens like Henry 8th just had a plaque on the floor, stating that his remains were in a vault under the floor with his wife, Jane Seymour. The interior of the chapel was exquisite. Unfortunately, I was not allowed to take any pictures in the chapel or inside the palaces. Our last stop was at a beautiful meadow called Runnymede. Here is where King John was forced to sign the Magna Charta. There is also one acre of American soil, given to us when John Kennedy was assassinated. So I was able to stand on American soil today.
![2008 - United Kingdom - Day 1 - Hampton Court, Windsor Castle, and Runnymede]()
2008 - United Kingdom - Day 2 - White Tower, British Library and Museum
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Breakfast at the hotel was very good. I had scrambled eggs with mushrooms, and tomatoes, hash browns and bacon. We left the hotel on our bus at 7:15 am. Our first 2 hours was a London City tour. We drove around the city with a local guide. We made a couple stops, one at Westminster Abby and the other at Buckingham Palace. Then we went to the London Tower, or White Tower. My favorite part of the day was standing outside the walls overlooking the fortress, and Michael Wilcox telling us the stories of Lady Jane Gray and Thomas More. We then walked around through the fortress. We saw the crown jewels, which I was pretty shocked was out for the entire world to see. Wow, soooo many gems, it was amazing. We also saw the spot of all the beheadings, and went inside the Bloody tower where Sir Walter Raleigh was imprisoned and the 2 princes disappeared. Also the suicide of some duke whose name I can’t recall. We then drove to the British Library. There we saw the Magna Charta, some first printings of the bible in English, and the last letter of Thomas More to Henry the 8th. There was also a document from Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth. They had amazing things there. On our way to the British Museum after we left the library, we had a small collision with another car. And we also saw a bus with a motorcycle under it. Not good. At the museum we saw many Greek statues, and Egyptian statues and mummies. I liked them better in Egypt and Greece. I really liked all the English History stuff, even some old Viking weapons and armor and boat pictures. After the museum, we were supposed to go back to the hotel and have a sacrament meeting, but an older woman was lost and we spent over an hour looking for her. It turns out that she couldn’t remember where we supposed to meet so she had taken a taxi back to the hotel. Mom and I were both pretty hungry and the Wilcox’s recommended a restaurant across the road. We went there for dinner and it was really good. I had turkey and British beef. It came with yummy new potatoes and lots of veggies to choose from, and some scone type pastry called York pudding. We asked an English man next to us lots of questions and had a nice conversation with him and his daughter.
![2008 - United Kingdom - Day 2 - White Tower, British Library and Museum]()
2008 - United Kingdom - Day 3 - Salisbury and Oxford
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Today we left our hotel at 7:30 am. We drove a couple hours to Salisbury. The city was founded in the 1200’s. The cathedral there was one of the first buildings built in the city. I loved Salisbury. It was such a beautiful, quaint town with flowers and canals and swans and shops. We walked about 20 mins through the town to the cathedral. It is said to be the most beautiful cathedral in England. It had a very tall spire over 400 ft. tall. When we left Salisbury, we drove only 20 mins out of town to Stonehenge. Seeing it for the first time took my breather away. I have always wanted to see it. It was so cool! One thing I learned today was that there are dozens of these structures around Europe. This one is just the most spectacular. It is 5000 years old, as old as the pyramids. You know, I think those ancient civilizations had more technology or were more advanced than we think they were. One thing I was a little disappointed with, we couldn’t’ get close to it. I had expected to walk through it and touch it, but we could only walk around a roped off perimeter. By the way, everyone touring England decided to come see Stonehenge on the same day! It was so packed with people. We then drove another couple of hours to Oxford. Along the way, Michael was telling us about the martyrdoms that took place there of Arch Bishop Cramner, Bishop Ridley and Lattimer and William Tyndale, being burned at the stake for their beliefs. He read first hand accounts of the details of their deaths. It was horrific. I took a picture of the place of the martyrdoms in Oxford. Oxford was not what I expected. I thought it was one big university. But in fact is is made up of 39 colleges, all under the name of Oxford. This was also a very old city from the 1200’s. Henry the 8th founded the Christ Church College in the 1500’s. All the buildings were so amazing, built between 1200-1900’s, all on the same street. I bought a T-shirt of Stonehenge for Josh, and Oxford one for Michael, and a jacket for me. We then drove to Warwick where our hotel is.
![2008 - United Kingdom - Day 3 - Salisbury and Oxford]()
2008 - United Kingdom - Day 4 - Warwick and Stratford-upon-Avon
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We were able to sleep in this morning. Our bus didn’t’ leave until 9:30. We went first to the Warwick Castle. This place was more like an amusement park but without the rides. There were shows every half hour; jousting, sword fighting, birds of prey, Trebuchet, and bow and arrows. We saw three of the shows: jousting, birds of prey (my favorite), and watching the trebuchet shoot off a huge stone. We explored the rooms in the castle. They had it set up with wax people. We also went to the dungeon where they still have torture devices. Very creepy. We also climbed the towers and walked along the ramparts, 533 steps. I’m afraid it wore mom out. But it was cool. We then ate some snacks for lunch on the bus and drove to Stratford-upon-Avon. We walked to a grassy place on the banks of the river. The intent was to sit on the grass and listen to Mike. However, there was so much duck/geese/swan poop everywhere! So we went to the far end where there was a low wall that most people sat on. I think Mike was the only one brave enough to sit on the grass. I went down by the water edge and sat on the edge of the sidewalk, watching people go by on rowboats on the river and the geese kept coming near me, hoping for bread. There were several low hanging willows (my favorite tree) along the banks of the river. It was a perfect scene for Mike’s lecture on Shakespeare. He talked for about 30-40 mins. Then passed out maps of the city and pointed out places to go see and set us loose. First place mom and I went to was the Holy Trinity Church where Shakespeare was buried. Mom had a popsicle so we couldn’t’ go right in. We walked along the perimeter of the church. It was a huge cemetery really. Unfortunately, we couldn’t read most of the dates because they were all eroded over time. Only those 150 years and later were readable. We sat on a bench in the back of the church by the river for awhile. It was so beautiful and peaceful. Inside the chapel was similar to the others we had seen, but not as large. We paid $3 to go see where Shakespeare was buried with his wife and daughter. He wrote a silly prose to be posted on his head stone. We then walked to the birthplace and home of Shakespeare, passing his school along the way. Then mom and I went in search of fish and chips. Well, mom for the fish, not I ? We finally found a place near our meeting point. Mom got her fish n chips and I got a chicken pie and chips. I saved mine till we got back to the hotel. It was soooo yummy.
![2008 - United Kingdom - Day 4 - Warwick and Stratford-upon-Avon]()
2008 - United Kingdom - Day 5 - Elm Chapel, Benbow farm, Liverpool, Wales
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We left our hotel at 7:30. We drove 2 hours north to a rural area to see the oldest LDS chapel in England called the Elm Chapel. When Wilford Woodruff was on a mission here, he baptized 1,800 people. He baptized a group of people called the United Brethren. This was their chapel and they gave it to the church. We sat inside the chapel and Mike talked a bit to us about the early missionaries there and their success. Then we sang “Oh how lovely was the morning”. It was so beautiful, and there was such a sweet spirit. We left that place and went on to a little town called Ludbury. There we saw where Brigham Young preached. Mainly we stopped to use the restrooms nearby. Oh, on our 2 hour drive this morning, Mike talked to us about William Tyndale. He told us his life story and his contributions of the written bible in English. After Ludbury, we drove another 30 mins to a place formerly known as Benbow’s farm. It was the place Wilford Woodruff stayed for awhile and baptized 600 people. It is now owned by non LDS people, but they still work the farm and let LDS people come see the pond where the baptisms took place. We walked to the pond and Mike talked to us about Wilford Woodruff coming to live there and preaching in that area. Very touching stories. Again there was such a strong spirit in that place. We also sang all the verses of “Because I have been given much”. From there we drove another 2 hours to Liverpool. This was the port where 18,000 LDS people immigrated to the US. Here, Laurie Wilcox read from her ancestors’ journal and told us a very touching story about how it felt to leave England. We then sang “Come Come ye Saints”. All around the people grew quiet and listened to us sing. Then we sat on a bench overlooking the water. It had been a very spiritual day for me so far. When we left Liverpool, we drove on to Wales and our quaint Victorian town on the seashore. Mom and I walked around trying to find a restaurant for a reasonable price, but all we could find was asking $50 per person. So we walked up the street a ways to a McDonalds, grabbed some to go food and sat on a bench by the seashore to eat. We ate and talked and shared our food with the gulls.
![2008 - United Kingdom - Day 5 - Elm Chapel, Benbow farm, Liverpool, Wales]()
2008 - United Kingdom - Day 6 - Conwy and Leeds
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We were able to sleep in this morning since we didn’t have to be at the bus until 10 am. After breakfast, mom and I walked to the ASDA (family of Wal-Mart) to get some things. Prices are not like Wal-Mart though. I took a few more pictures of the coast and our hotel. We then drove to Beaumaris Castle, one of the many castles built along the Wales coast during the reign of Edward the first to keep Wales in submission. Along the way I noticed the sheep. There are tons of sheep in fields all over England and Wales was no different. But these sheep had green spray paint all over them. I told mom that somebody had vandalized the sheep. The castle was very beautiful. It still had water in the moat. We sat in the shade while Mike talked to us about the King Arthur poems. Then I climbed to the top walls and walked along the ramparts and got a few pictures before we headed off to the next castle of Conwy. Conwy Castle wasn’t as big as Beaumaris, but it was a little better preserved, showing the room structure inside the walls. After walking through the rooms we climbed a few towers, and then I climbed the tall turret. These castles were right on the seashore and there was sheep on the green fields on the other side, it was so beautiful. We had time to look in some shops and buy love spoons. I bought my boys some cool red dragon T-shirts. We walked along the town’s streets for a bit and bought some ice-cream. Then we drove 2 hours back into England and arrived at our hotel around 6:30 pm. They served us dinner in the hotel at 7 pm, which was really nice so we didn’t have to eat our tuna and crackers for dinner.
![2008 - United Kingdom - Day 6 - Conwy and Leeds]()
2008 - United Kingdom - Day 7 - York
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We left our hotel at 8:00 am this morning for York. It took us about an hour to get there. Along the way, Mike talked to us about the language of the bible given to us from Tyndale. It was really interesting. York is one of the oldest cities in England, it was built during the Roman times, and there are Roman walls surrounding the city from 30 AD. We had a local guide give us a 2 hour walking tour of the city. We saw the Minister Cathedral, about 1000 years old. The stained glass is the best in England, preserved since the 1200-1300’s. It wasn’t destroyed during the reformation like almost all the others in England were at that time. We walked down many little lanes and saw other churches and sites. Our guide took to a shrine of a Catholic saint, I can’t even remember her name now, but she was a young woman that was Catholic during the reformation when the rulers in England were protestant. She hid priests in her home and held mass and did all she could to support the Catholics. She was arrested and executed. They killed her by fastening boulder on a large door and crushing her to death. After hearing her story, I couldn’t’ help but cry for her and all of the deaths and martyrs I have heard over the past several days. There were horrible deaths of beheadings, burning at the stake, hanging people in chains until their bodies rot, sawn in half, stretched from hands and legs till you were pulled apart in 4 pieces, and now the crushing. English were cruel people, and whichever religion was in power at the time hunted and killed those who wouldn’t submit. It is so sad, it really depressed me. When she was finished with our tour, she dumped us off in the middle of the city with some maps. We had 3.5 hours of free time. We mostly walked through the parks and walked along the city walls. We got back to the hotel at 5:00 and dinner was served to us again as a buffet at 7:00.
![2008 - United Kingdom - Day 7 - York]()
2008 - United Kingdom - Day 8 - Lake District, Grasmere, Hadrian’s Wall
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This morning we left our hotel at 9:00 am. By the way, for breakfast EVERY morning except in Wales, (that was the traditional European breakfast of pastries and meats and cheese), they serve scrambled eggs, mushrooms, tomatoes, hash browns, sausage and beans. Sometimes there is oatmeal. It’s kind of funny, good though, I like it. It’s just the same in every hotel. We drove 2.5 hours to the Lake District. On the way, we watched Harry Potter since we are going to the castle were some scenes were filmed in tomorrow. The Lake District is so gorgeous. It is a hilly area with several small lakes and trees and flowers and sheep and so green. We started in Windermere. We ate lunch there and bought a few trinkets in the shop, then we went for a boat ride across the lake to Anglesey, about 40 minutes. From there we got back on the bus and drove to Grasmere, home of William Wordsworth. We walked a little ways through the city to the church where he was buried. There we took pictures of his grave and sat on the lawn and listened to Mike tell us about his life and read some of his poetry. It was so nice sitting under the trees and looking at the hills with its stone walls and flocks of sheep. We then drove out of the Lake District, but we saw some beautiful scenery along the way. Mike and Laurie talked to us about Beatrice Potter (author of Peter Rabbit), who lived in that area. Driving towards Newcastle where we are spending the night, we stopped at a section of Hadrian’s Wall built in the 2nd century and marks the northern most region of the Roman Empire. Again, it was set on a beautiful hillside and we walked a short way and got some good pictures. After the wall, we finished our drive into Newcastle and are at our hotel. Mom and I ordered some sausages and mashed potatoes which are a traditional British dish that Dave’s British co-worker told me to try. It was really good. We had a fabulous chocolate marble truffle cheesecake-like dessert that was sooo yummy. It was served hot with fudge and berries.
![2008 - United Kingdom - Day 8 - Lake District, Grasmere, Hadrian’s Wall]()
2008 - United Kingdom - Day 9 - Alnwick Castle and Rosslyn Chapel
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We left our hotel at 9 am and drove to Alnwick Castle. This is the 2nd largest inhabited castle in England. It’s also “Hogwarts”. It was very cool. I enjoyed most walking the grounds and climbing the towers and walking along the castle walls. The state rooms were very fancy. We then drove into Scotland, a 2.5 hour drive and to Rosslyn’s Chapel where part of Da Vinci code was filmed. It was a knight’s templar church. We were there for about 45 mins. It was very small, with small grounds, but a lot of intricate carving inside and out. There is a huge umbrella covering the building to try to preserve the top form the weather. They are trying to raise money to restore it. Then it was another hour drive to Glasgow and to our hotel. We arrived a little after 5 pm, so mom and I walked down the street to a KFC for dinner. We brought it back to our hotel and ate in our rooms since it was hot in the restaurant.
![2008 - United Kingdom - Day 9 - Alnwick Castle and Rosslyn Chapel]()
2008 - United Kingdom - Day 10 - Scottish Highlands and Lochs, Glamis Castle, Saint Andrews
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Today was a spectacular day. We left our hotel at 8:00 and drove into the Scottish highlands. That is the most beautiful country I have seen yet. We drove past 2 of the Loch’s, Loch Lomond and Loch Tay. At Loch Lomond we stopped and got some Pictures. The mountain around the Loch is called Ben Lomond, which apparently a mountain in Ogden is named after this mountain. By the way, our bus driver is a very loud and obnoxious man from Belgium. He is crazy. He doesn’t usually drive in England, so he has driven on the wrong side of the street, gone the wrong way on one way lanes, and if he misses a turn, he just backs up and expects all the other cars to move. Today, while turning onto the road on the wrong side of the street someone said, “You’re going onto the wrong side of the road.” He replied, “No problem! The cars are smaller then me, they can back up. If something is bigger then me, than we have a problem.” At lunch time we stopped a t acute village called Dunkeld. We walked down to the river and ate our snacks and fed some ducks and gull-type looking birds. It was a beautiful area. I loved our drive. Normally I get sleepy on the bus rides and sleep a lot. But I so loved the view, I couldn’t sleep. We then arrived at Glamis Castle. This was the first castle I have seen that is primarily just a residence castle, not a fortification castle. This castle is more like the Disneyland style castle. This was also the home of the queen mother. We had a guided tour of part of the inside. It was cool. She told us about some of the ghosts that live in the castle and 2 men that were boarded up in a room and the room has never been opened. After we left the castle we drove to St. Andres, the famous golf course. It was right on the cost of the North Sea, so I took a few pictures of the golf course and that bridge that all the famous golfers like to get their pictures taken on, then walked to the shore and collected seashells for my girls. On the way to our hotel in Edinburgh, Mike talked to us about the contributions of Scotland to the world. He talked about Sir Walter Scott and his Waverly novels, but my favorite was listening to him talk about George MacDonald and read some of his quotes about god and religion. It touched my heart. We got to our hotel around 7:00. Mom and I walked across the street to a pizza hut for dinner. One medium sized pizza cost us $24. I stopped at a little market and bought some candy and chocolate to take home to the family.
![2008 - United Kingdom - Day 10 - Scottish Highlands and Lochs, Glamis Castle, Saint Andrews]()
2008 - United Kingdom - Day 11 - Edinburgh
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Today was a bit of a disappointment. We awoke to thick fog throughout the city, and rain. Although by the time we started our city tour, the rain had stopped, but we still couldn’t see much through the mist. We took a 2 hour bus city tour with a local guide. We could see ok nearby the buildings that he pointed out, and we went to the palace Holyrood, where Mary Queen of Scots lived. The fog wasn’t too bad there. But then we drove up a hill to Edinburgh Park where our guide told us were excellent views of the city and the nearby Loch. Unfortunately up there was where the fog was the worst and we saw nothing but white mist everywhere. At the end of our bus tour, we went to Edinburgh Castle. We walked through the rooms and grounds and shops. I bought some shortbread that is supposed to be really good. (Yes it was!!) We finished around noon with our group and we had the rest of the day free. Mom and I went back to our hotel and had our snacks for lunch. Then we went to the Café where JK Rowling wrote Harry Potter, we went inside the St. Giles Cathedral, and we went to a few more shops. I bought Dave some T-shirts and some wool scarves for me and the girls. As we walked out of the shop, the sun was out and most of the fog had gone. It made me wish we had had an afternoon tour instead of a morning one. We then went back to the hotel and watched a cute movie on TV. We walked across the street to a mart and bought a sandwich for dinner. We ate them back in the hotel while watching Wild Animal Rescue. We spent the rest of our evening reading and soaking in the tub.
![2008 - United Kingdom - Day 11 - Edinburgh]()
2008 - United Kingdom - Day 12 - Ferry to Ireland
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This morning, the sky was blue and sunny and clear. Wow we could actually see the city as we were leaving it, it was kind of sad ? I actually saw the castle up on the rock hill, but it was hard to get good pictures of it as we drove by. Today was a traveling day. We drove 2.5 hours to a beautiful town called Ayr. We stopped there for an hour for lunch at a Robert Burns memorial place. Wow it set in such beautiful gardens. There was a picturesque bridge there called Brig a Doon, that Robert Burns used in on of his famous poems. As I was foraging down a trail under the bridge to get a good shot of ti, I had a little run in with some stinging nettle. That stuff is all over the British Isles, so I guess it was just a matter of time before I touched some. That or thistle. Thistle is Scotland’s national flower actually. I thought our guide was joking when he told us that, but then he told us why. When the Vikings were climbing the hills to attack them, they would cry out with all the thistle all over the hills, so that would alert them of the Vikings coming so they could prepare themselves. Hmmmm, true story?? Maybe ? As we were driving this morning, Mike talked to us about St. Patrick’s life. Crazy, my whole life I never associated St. Patrick’s Day with a real person. And he was an incredible man. That holiday will never be the same for me now. It has new meaning. When we got to the ferry, it was 1.5 hours late. So we waited inside the building there. I read my book. We then drove the bus right on the ferry. The ferry across the Irish Sea was about 2 hours. Mom and I spent the first hour watching a movie, but after a couple inappropriate scenes, we left. We found different places to sit and read a book till we arrived. I tried to go out on deck because I love the water, but the cold drove me back in in just a few minutes. Our hotel was only about 30 mins away from where our ferry dropped us off. We walked down the street to a KFC for dinner.
![2008 - United Kingdom - Day 12 - Ferry to Ireland]()
2008 - United Kingdom - Day 13 - Rope Bridge, Giants Causeway, Dublin
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Today was a great day! We left our hotel at 9:00 am. By the way, SAME breakfasts in Ireland and in Scotland and England. We took a coastal drive north from Belfast. We drove about 1.5 hours to a place called Carrick-a-Rede. It was a gorgeous place on the coast with some islands. We walked 2/3 of a mile down this pathway along the cliff edge. There was a rope bridge that attached it to a nearby island. It was pretty cool and kind of scary walking across it. Mom was in front of me and kept asking me if I was jumping. Once across, she said was not going back across. Wow the little island was so beautiful. It was very small; we could walk the perimeter in 10 mins. It was covered in soft spongy grass. I found a little outcrop of the soft grass on the edge of the cliff and sat on it for awhile and was once again amazed at where I was and felt very blessed to be there. We then drove to the Giants Causeway. That is also right off the coast of Ireland. It is a bunch of interesting rock formations. We drove the tram down and walked and climbed around the stones. It was really neat. I’ve never seen anything like it. We then went to the Dunluce Castle. It was all in ruins, but perched on the edge of a cliff off the coast. It was fun exploring the castle. We then had a 4 hour drive ahead of us going south to Dublin. Mike put on a jeopardy game for us from all we had learned about on our trip. I really enjoyed it and fount out I had learned a lot. We took a couple of breaks along the way. One was at a church in a city where St. Patrick lived and was the center of the church at that time. Then we stopped at a shopping center for dinner. Mom and I decided to just wait till we got to our hotel and eat our snacks.
![2008 - United Kingdom - Day 13 - Rope Bridge, Giants Causeway, Dublin]()
2008 - United Kingdom - Day 14 - Dublin, Trinity College and River Dance
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I had an omelet for breakfast today! Yay something different ? We left on our bus at 8:00 and drove an hour to Glendalough where monks in the 4th and 5th centuries set up monasteries and copied all forms of literature. We had an hour to walk amongst the ruins of the monasteries and the old cemetery. There were also nature trails leading to a couple nearby lakes. It was a gorgeous walk and such a beautiful area. We then drove to Dublin and went to the Trinity College there to see the book of Kell that those monks created. It is called illuminated because of all the fancy artwork on it. Afterwards we had an hour to shop and get lunch. Mom and I went into a couple shops. I bought shirts for me and my girls and a nice green one for Dave. Then we found a café for lunch. We had Hawaiian Crepes, it was really yummy. We then had a few hours back at the hotel before going to our show that evening. I sent some emails home and took an hour nap. Then we walked through the pretty gardens around our palace hotel and took some pictures. Our bus picked us up and 6:00 and drove us back downtown for dinner and our show. Since we had already spent a lot of Euros this day, we walked to a park and ate some of our snacks for dinner. Then we went to our theater for our show, the Riverdance, at 8:00. This theater was built at the end of the 18th century. The show was nice, lots of cool dancing.
![2008 - United Kingdom - Day 14 - Dublin, Trinity College and River Dance]()
2008 - United Kingdom - Day 15 - Cashel, Cork/Blarney Castle, Limerick
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We left our beautiful hotel this morning at 7:30. We drove SW for 2.5 hours to Cashel. They put on the movie Miss Potter for people to watch while we drove. I sat next to James McQueen on the bus today. He is a great guy. He bought dinner for mom and I at one of our hotels. We talked pretty much all of our traveling time today, which was around 5 hour’s bus time. He is traveling with his wife and daughter. Our first stop was to the Castle in Cashel. It was the home of the kings of Munster. It was more like a Cathedral though with an altar inside and the old cemetery all throughout the grounds. While we there, an older lady on our tour, 89, traveling with her grandson, was hit by a car. She was taking pictures and a car backed up into her. She was knocked down and he ran over her ankle. She screamed and he stopped right on top of her, not knowing whether to back up or move forward. This woman is from the Christian Science church and doesn’t believe in medicine or doctors. So when the ambulance showed up, she hobbled away from them. She eventually let them give her a look over but wouldn’t let them do anything else. She won’t take any pain meds. I know she was offered a blessing, but I don’t think she accepted it. This same woman also got lost at the British Library in London. Poor thing. She’ll have lots of stories to tell. We then drove another 2 hours to Cork to see the Blarney Castle and kiss the Blarney Stone. The story behind this place is that Queen Elizabeth the first tried to make negotiations with the king there at the time, but he would just lead her on and flatter her and nothing was over achieved. She said of him, that all he spoke was blarney. So this stone in the castle, legend is that if you kiss it, you get the gift of eloquence. We walked through the gorgeous countryside to the very tall castle, and climbed the narrow windings staircases to the top of the castle. We didn’t really know what to expect. I had heard you had to lay on your back to kiss it. And I was a bit nervous to kiss it, knowing a billion other people’s lips had been on it. I was really wishing for some saran wrap ? We get to the stone and when mom sees what we need to do to kiss it, she backs out. You lie on your back, grab some hand rails behind your head and a guy lowers you over the edge of the rampart. The stone to kiss is the bottom stone on the edge of the rampart. We are about 8-10 stories up. It was quite an experience! Mom talked me into buying the picture they took of me kissing the stone. I hesitated kissing it, but I had to! I was in Ireland! After going down the steps again, we walked through the grounds. Wow they were really cool and different. It was like walking through an enchanted forest. We then ate our sandwiches for lunch and bought some ice-cream. Our bus then took us to Limerick, another 1.5 hour drive. Several people in our group had written limericks for the occasion and shared them. Most were really good and funny. A lot were about our breakfasts and crazy bus driver. We got to our hotel a little after 5:00. We watched The Mummy on TV, (mom didn’t like it) and I talked to my family on the phone. Then Jamie invited us to a pizza party in the lobby. They ordered several pizzas and sodas from Dominos and about 20 of us got together. It was nice.
![2008 - United Kingdom - Day 15 - Cashel, Cork/Blarney Castle, Limerick]()
2008 - United Kingdom - Day 16 - Limerick, Bunratty Village
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Today we were able to sleep in, although from 6:30 on I couldn’t sleep. Breakfast today was really good. A much bigger selection and I got to have a yummy omelet. We left for Bunratty Village at 10 am. It was not very far away from our hotel. Bunratty Village has a castle that was built in the 1400’s that has recently been restored, and there is a whole village with homes and shop made to look as they did at that time and see how they lived several hundred years ago. We started with a tour of the castle, and then we walked through the village and houses. It was a nice place. We got back at our hotel around 1:30 p.m. Mom and I ate our snacks for lunch and watched a movie on TV about the Quintuplets born in Canada during the depression. At 4:45 we went out front of our hotel for a group photo, and then we had a sacrament meeting. Michael Wilcox took quotes from people we have talked about from each place we have visited. I was able to envision each place as he mentioned them and recall what I have learned. Mike’s purpose was to prove that God speaks to people from many different voices, and His hand is in everything. I feel pretty melancholy now that it is over, but also so blessed that I was given this opportunity. Mom and I ordered room service for dinner tonight—Seafood Chowder for mom (which she was scared of) and a steak sandwich for me, so yummy!!
![2008 - United Kingdom - Day 16 - Limerick, Bunratty Village]()
