• My Awesome Adventures
  • My Awesome Adventures

An Olympic Sized Holiday

Pengembaraan 40hari oleh My Awesome Adventures Baca lagi
  • Giant’s Causeway

    17 Ogos 2024, Ireland Utara ⋅ ☁️ 17 °C

    This is something that I’ve really been looking forward to. There are so many fun folk tales about the Giant’s Causeway and seeing it in real life was fantastic. The stones are much bigger in diameter than I had imagined and I had lots of fun scrambling over them. Of course, a few times, in the back of my mind I could hear my physiotherapist having an absolute fit.Baca lagi

  • Hilton Garden Inn Dublin

    18–20 Ogo 2024, Ireland ⋅ ☁️ 13 °C

    This hotel is very central. It’s also nice and close to the docks so we can get to the ferry easily on Tuesday.

    A nice, big room. The bed was rock hard! Also, the super fun time I’ve had (Monday morning) was calling my bank in Australia due to charges on my credit card that I didn’t make. What fun. Card is now cancelled. 😡 That will make life fun for the end of this trip! I do have another card, but I think I’ll hit an ATM and go cash only wherever I can.Baca lagi

  • Sightseeing in Belfast

    18 Ogos 2024, Ireland Utara ⋅ ☁️ 14 °C

    We have spent the morning sightseeing in Belfast. The Europa Hotel is the most bombed hotel in Europe. Lots of important politicians would stay here during the Troubles. City Hall - a very stately building. The Albert Clock Tower was unfortunately built on quite marshy ground so it isn’t very straight.Baca lagi

  • The Titanic Experience

    18 Ogos 2024, Ireland Utara ⋅ ☁️ 17 °C

    This was a fabulous exhibition. It’s hard to just choose a few photos. The whole story is laid out before you, from building the ship (with an immersive ride to show what the dockyards were like) through to the artifacts from life on board, through to the Morse code messages sent. There were recordings from the survivors playing. There was the complete passenger list projected, separated into those saved and lost. Then at the end was the section on the investigation, the numerous causes of the disaster and what has been done since to make ocean travel safer. A fascinating exhibition.Baca lagi

  • Carlingford

    18 Ogos 2024, Ireland ⋅ ☁️ 18 °C

    Lunch stop in Carlingford. We’re back in the Republic of Ireland. Lots of cute streets. Also some historic buildings. The little gaol was indeed, little! Also, the water main covers are quite ornate. I bought some fish and chips from a street can for lunch. So. Much. Food. I hope I have room for dinner tonight!Baca lagi

  • Sightseeing on foot + Trinity college

    19 Ogos 2024, Ireland ⋅ ☁️ 17 °C

    Our bus sightseeing tour took a bit less time than I expected and I had two hours before my booking for the Book of Kells. I didn’t want to get too far away or I’d get lost, so I went for a wander through the shopping district.

    I managed to find the statue of Molly Malone. “Selling cockles and muscles alive, alive -o”.

    I also found a nice, ornate shopping mall. An excellent excuse to get out of the rain.

    Then I made my way back to Trinity College and took some photos of buildings and sculptures while waiting for my entrance time. The weather is not promising.
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  • The Book of Kells

    19 Ogos 2024, Ireland ⋅ ☁️ 17 °C

    This was absolutely amazing. It was hard to cut it down to ten photos.

    You start by going through a gallery that explains what the Book of Kells is, how vellum was made, how they made the inks, the symbolism used etc. There are audio guides which are really helpful. Then you get to see the book itself. They turn the page every few months.

    After that you go to the Old Library, or the Long Room. This looks like something straight out of Harry Potter. It is incredible and I’m very glad I came to see it. Most of the books have been removed for restoration purposes and next year they will be closing altogether. They’re not sure how long - possibly six years!

    There are amazing artifacts and marble busts in the room. There is also an exhibit called Gaia. It’s a globe of 6m in diameter that is made up of thousands of photos compiled from NASA. It’s amazing.

    Honestly, at this point I felt I had my money’s worth. But wait, there’s more!

    I got a little bit lost getting out to the next part of the exhibition. I missed a set of stairs somewhere, but the staff were nice and helped me find the way.

    Out the back is a big red building where they digitise the experience. You see the marble busts, they project on to them so Shakespeare can have a conversation with Ada Lovelace! There is a digital retelling of the history of the Book of Kells. You can see archive boxes and scan QR codes to learn more about what’s in the collection. Then there is a room at the end which is made up to look like the long room. They project on to it, so you can see it in full glory. Then they show you elements from various books that are held there!

    It’s really a fabulous experience and my only regret is that I couldn’t delve into the gift shop properly as I had to run to meet the bus.
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  • Drama at the hotel

    19 Ogos 2024, Ireland ⋅ 🌬 19 °C

    What happens when you run to meet a bus? Drama!

    So the bus brings us back to the hotel, but as it gets close there are road blocks and people everywhere. We see an evacuation sign with the name of our hotel on it, some people from the tour who went back to the hotel early, and a bunch of fire engines!

    Peter, our fearless(but getting slightly frazzled) tour director, hops on the bus to tell us about this “muppetry”. Turns out there has been a fire alarm. No one is precisely sure what happened, but rumour has it a coffee machine caught fire. There are six fire engines and a dozen or so firefighters milling about, fire hoses out, the works. No way were we getting back in to the hotel. We milled around and swapped stories until the all clear was given.

    I’m just glad it didn’t happen a bit later. I was coming back to the hotel to have a shower and wash my hair before our evening excursion. That would have made for an embarrassing evacuation!

    Update! As it turns out, someone threw a cigarette butt into a pile of rubbish out front of the building, the whole thing caught on fire and that’s what caused the evacuation and fire brigade call out. Moral to the story: Don’t smoke - it makes LOTS of people unhappy.
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  • Guinness Storehouse Tour

    19 Ogos 2024, Ireland ⋅ 🌬 21 °C

    This is on the list for NOT to do again. Too bright, too hot, too loud, too many people, too confusing. Our guide (not Peter) would wander off in front and it was hard to catch up. Then we had a 40 minute wait before dinner when we were “set free” to explore. I’m currently hiding in a corner.

    There were some interesting things. Seeing the range of ingredients used was interesting. So was seeing how advertising changed over time - some things you just can’t (and wouldn’t) do now.

    As it turns out, problems continued with dinner. While they were meant to cater for two tour groups, they ran out of food and another gentleman and I had to wait, and wait…. Most of the others had finished dessert before I got my meal! This is just the final blow in a not so good day. At least the Book of Kells was fantastic!
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  • Early start

    20 Ogos 2024, Ireland ⋅ ☀️ 12 °C

    Up bright and early this morning. Bags had to be out at 6:15am. We’re currently settled happily in the ferry to make the crossing to Holyhead. I had a few euros in coins left and thought “Great! I can spend those on coffee etc on the ferry.” Wrong! This ferry is UK owned so everything is in pounds sterling. Meh, I guess those coins are now teaching resources.Baca lagi

  • The longest place name in Wales

    20 Ogos 2024, Wales ⋅ 🌬 15 °C

    A fun little stop. Our guide can actually pronounce the name!

    The town is called: Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch.

    Now there’s a mouthful for you!

    It means: St Mary’s Church in the Hollow of the White Hazel near a Rapid Whirlpool and the Church of St Tysilio near the Red Cave.

    The railway sign gives a phonetic pronunciation: Llan-vire-pooll-guin-gill-go-ger-u-queern-drob-ooll-llandus-ilio-gogo-goch.

    So there you are - have a go!

    I’ve also included a picture of the bridge outside of town that is the oldest suspension bridge. The house in the middle of the river is where you used to pay your toll when crossing by ferry.
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  • Penny Lane

    20 Ogos 2024, England ⋅ 🌬 18 °C

    Liverpool City Tour time. First stop? Penny Lane.

    Got a photo of the famous sign. We could stop driving down the street as it’s quite busy. I still got pictures of some houses and the barber shop and the bank. I couldn’t get the shelter in the middle of the roundabout. There’s also a John Lennon statue.

    Our local guide has some amazing stories!
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