My Irish Shenanigans: friends

On Friday I got back from my short trip to England to visit a dear friend who just embarked on her trip to Vietnam for the summer to teach English. I left the day Queen Elizabeth II arrived in Ireland (Ole Lizzy and I agreed that we would switch places so I could keep an eye on things for her and she would do the same for me) and if you're wondering if one of the thousands of Gardai asked to open my suitcase on the street, the answer is yes. Undergarments and all were looked through in broad daylight on possibly the busiest street in Ireland. Doesn't help that of course the one Gardai that looked through my bag was very good looking. Anyway, onward and upward.

Sarah, my friend who is teaching in Vietnam, met me at Gatwick Airport and we had a good time just catching up on the train ride back to Burgess Hill. Weirdly, I felt that this town was very English. I don't know why. Maybe the very narrow roads that people drive on the left, the roundabouts every 30 feet or so, the really cute small cars, or the incredibly cute little houses... Above all else, it was probably the stares of what on earth is that Asian girl doing in Burgess Hill? Don't get me wrong, there are South Asian places to eat, and again possibly the best curry I've had is always in England, but really not a lot of East Asians. But getting stared at is something that I have gotten very used to after living in Ireland for the past eight months (I can't believe it's been that short. I feel like I've been here forever. Not a bad thing.) We went to a karaoke bar with one of her cousins that night and it was SO GOOD. I love watching people karaoke.

The next day we went to London. It was my second time going but I definitely was still the wide-eyed, super excited girl I was the first time. This time I did the Tower of London with Sarah and then she went to meet a family friend and it was off to Westminster Abbey for me! We got picked up in Burgess Hill by Sarah's other cousins and went out for a few drinks and Russian billiards! A game that I'm terrible at but it's so fun to play...

Tower of London

Baby and Dad armour

I have no idea just looked cool!

Definitely was not supposed to be taking photos inside

The grounds

The next day was Arundel Castle. But of course whose camera dies because they couldn't find the camera charger before leaving their flat in Dublin? So it was iPhone to the rescue. But still, I was kicking myself for not searching harder for my camera charger. The film, Young Victoria, was partially filmed at the castle and no wonder because it's absolutely beautiful! One of the things that I find absolutely fascinating is that people still live in these castles. Tower of London, Arundel, Buckingham (obviously) and others are being lived in by families today! Needless to say, I would like that life.

Part of the village and the Castle in the Sky

Part of the beautiful grouds

Dedication to some.... guy.

I wish you could see how big these poppies were!

The keep

View from the keep

Then for my final day in England, Sarah and I went for a quick visit to Brighton. I could definitely see myself living in Brighton. It's kind of young but a lot like San Francisco especially with the sea close by. We went to her favourite coffee joint which also had GREAT French toast. And lattes (whilst in England Sarah had me start watching Neighbours this Aussie soap and they pronounce latte "lahdday" .. I can't not say it like that now). And then we went for a stroll down to the (rocky) beach and had ice cream!

French toast with bacon and baked banana

Beautiful Brighton

I love Alice in Wonderland!

The next time I go to England will probably be with Meghan and we'll visit our friend "Bad News" Brian... that will be a completely different type of post. Haha. Cheerio!

How thankful am I for friends? Words can never come close to describing the magnitude of thankfulness in me (especially since I am so NOT good with words anyway.)

So Andi arrived a day later than we thought but no matter because class was canceled on Friday! HUZZAH! So we got started a bit earlier on our road trip up to Northern Ireland. I drove... yes on the wrong side (mahahahaha). Every time I went through a roundabout I cheered (on the inside after the first like 8 but still aloud for the first 8). Yes I'm that lame. We drove up to Belfast and put the car in the car park and just walked around in the rain. Andi got her Starbucks mugs and we just soaked in the UK/Northern Irish spirit! It was hilarious watching/hearing Andi get accustomed to the Northern accent. In fairness, she didn't really get to hear the Republic of Ireland accent all that much but it was still cute nonetheless.

But then the scariest night of driving in my LIFE occurred. So Andi and I wanted to make it up to the Causeway Hotel at the Giant's Causeway so we could wake up and just hike and then work our way back towards Dublin via the North Coast and cut back through the north part of the Republic of Ireland. The weather had a completely different idea. We were driving and it was fine. We stopped to take loads of photos which was fantastic but then as we got further north and it got darker, it started getting foggier. Now I have driven through fog before, the city, San Mateo, Tulle but this fog was incredible. In the strictest sense of the word. It was absolutely the thickest fog I have EVER seen in my life and ever care to see in my life to tell the truth. You know those little divider light thingies? Yeah you could only see ONE. Oh wait... but people WERE PASSING ME. Crazy, crazy northerners (haha). So of course we decided to stop at some random little town. BUT because it's sooooo off season, nothing was open. But thank God we found some random B&B which was actually pretty cute. (The BF was telling me that I should go have a cuppa with the "old pair"... there's no way I was about to make conversation with anyone).

In the morning we left early for the Giant's Causeway. I'll let the photos do the talking.

Sunday we slept in (kind of) and then made our way to Glendalough. Again so pretty! And only like an hour or so south of me. If I lived here it could be my Rancho San Antonio Park!