So It Does Exist

My weekend to Germany went quite well. It was a lot of traveling, and a little bit of sight-seeing, but overall it was good. As it turns out, the city of Rothenburg (notice the corrected spelling) is a real place, and not just some myth that leads one on endless searches on the internet. Our journey started on Thursday a little after 4pm, taking a shuttle into the train station to catch a train a little after 5. We then took the train and made it to the airport and had to wait for a few hours before boarding our plane. All in all, using planes, buses and trains we were traveling until about 9am the next morning. We were all dead tired. The bed and breakfast that we were staying out was run by an old couple that if they weren't grandparents should have been. The husband picked us up at the train station and then we went to the bed and breakfast. The lady was very apologetic because she didn't expect us as early as we had gotten there, and so one of the rooms wasn't ready. So while that was taking place we had some breakfast. Every morning that we were there breakfast was amazing. They had everything you could ever want, from meats to breads to eggs to sweets. Needless to say breakfast was always a drawn out and filling event. After we got done with breakfast we took about a 3-hour nap and then decided to explore the town. We walked around for a while after meeting up with the 5th member of our party, Rachel, who was staying at a different place than us. First we went to a medieval torture museum, which was interesting, to say the least. Very morbid, but interesting. We then basically walked around for the rest of the day, checking out shops. We tried a traditional German sweet, called a snowball (I don't remember how to say it in German), which was basically fried bread with sugar on it. It tasted like Pop-Tart crust with sugar on it. It was alright, but nothing spectacular. The medieval wall is still up around the inner-city (which isn't very big, maybe 2-miles in diameter), so we walked around that a little bit. The city was very pretty, just a quaint little out-of-the-way town. We then went back to our respective housing and went to bed fairly early. The next day we all met up at the Rothenburg city museum. That was pretty interesting, with the museum being in what used to be a convent. It covered all eras of the city, although it was severely lacking in the Roman-era, which was a little disappointing. We then basically window-shopped the rest of the day, with a stop into the Christmas museum. Apparently the Germans think they invented Christmas. Ok, so not really. They were the first to use Christmas trees though. Another interesting anecdote was that Santa Clause used to have a helper, who's name escapes me right now. Anyway, this helper looked like the devil and was basically around to eat the kids that were bad. Fun stuff, I'm glad I never had to worry about Santa's demon-minions devouring me. There's not much else to say about Rothenburg. That Sunday was just spent traveling back to Harlaxton, from about 8:30am to 11pm. Long day. But it was a fun city, and we mostly just walked around and shopped. It was relaxing though, which was needed. I will be writing up another entry shortly about our trip from last weekend to London. Then I'll be all caught up. Of course I also have pictures that need captions, as well as pictures that need uploaded, but that's another story.

Weekend of Nothingness

Not much new to report. This weekend most of my friends went somewhere, but I stayed here at the manor. It was actually pretty nice. I really didn't do a whole lot of anything. There was homework that I had, and I got that done within due time, but the rest of the time was just relaxation time. It's nice to be away from the go-go-go attitude of travel. It's nice to just sit back and do whatever I want, whether it be to read a book, watch a movie, hang out with people, or to just sit and think. It's a very nice sort of freedom. Friday night I watched some movies. Saturday I did homework, went into Grantham to take pictures of the church they have there (apparently the 6th tallest in England), then attempted to play a game called Dragon Quest in the evening with Dione, Robert, and Catrese. It was pretty well hilarious. It was a Dungeons and Dragons-type game, which none of us had much experience with. At first we were actually going to try and play it, but then we found out that it was missing some cards and a necessary 20-sided die, so we really couldn't play. After that we basically just tried to make up rules to play the game, but we never really got into playing it. Just the set-up experience was good enough, we didn't need to actually play the game. On Sunday I tried out (sounds like a new product or something) the Baptist church in Grantham, which I had never been to. I didn't go to Harlaxton church because no one else was going, and I didn't want to go by myself. The Baptist church was alright, there was lots of singing songs that I didn't know, and lots of overly-happy people. I just didn't get much out of it personally, although I'm sure for many people it is right for them. I like Harlaxton's services better, maybe because they are more simple, and there's less overkill, I guess. I like it when things are to the point, and that's Harlaxton. I don't know if I'll get the chance to go to church again. We're travelling almost the rest of the semester, but I hope that I get at least one chance to go back to the Harlaxton church. So a funny thing happened last week. I got nominated to be in a date auction here on campus. I'm not sure how I feel about it, but I'll go through with it because it's for a good cause, helping British children in need. I'm not actually sure if I'm in the auction yet, as we have a meeting tomorrow, and I've heard that we find out there who's actually in the auction. There wasn't much explanation to it, so we'll see what happens. I almost wonder if me being voted in was a joke, that lots of people could've put me down as "the unlikely candidate" just to be funny. Regardless of if that's the case or not, like I said, it's for a good cause, so if I'm actually in it I'll go through with it. I'm sure it will be awkward, but I'll make it through. I also got nominated again for some Lord and Lady of the Manor competition, which I'm not even sure what it's about. Again, I'm suspicious of the nature of my being voted in, people probably just want to see the awkward guy do something, who knows. Nothing else to report, really. This weekend is Rotenberg, Germany, and I'm looking forward to it as I haven't been to Germany yet. I hear that it's nice there, so we'll test that out.

It's All Greek To Me, Really

Just thought that I would give this update. I got my first Greek Exam back today and I got an A on it! I was really excited about that. It must mean that I'm learning everything that I'm supposed to learn, and by myself, no less. Granted, I can e-mail Dr. Ware questions when I have them, and I've done so a few times, but otherwise I've been teaching myself based on the book and my previous 2 semesters. I hope I can keep this up. I'll find out how I'm doing with Latin soon, as I sent in my first mid-term today. This week has been and will be fairly lax. I have another Greek exam to do sometime this week, as well as two chapters of Latin homework, but other than that there's not much else. It'll be nice to just relax this weekend and not have to worry about the hustle and bustle of travel. Maybe I can get back to reading Plato's Republic, which I've gotten about 70 pages into but haven't read for about a month or so. That or I can start my other paper for British Studies about Roman London and how it shaped the city as multicultural. Regardless, I have some options, and I like that.

The Lake District: A District of Lakes and Cold Wetness

The Lake District went really well, and I thoroughly enjoyed myself. We got there at around midnight Thursday night, so we basically just unpacked and went to bed. The next morning we ate breakfast and then decided to go explore the nearby town of Ambleside. It was about a 10 minute walk to get there. During the morning we looked around at some tourist-shops, as well as some outdoor shops, looking for any items for the next days water activities that we hadn't already gotten. We also found a deal that we took advantage of for the evening where we could get a 2-course dinner and a movie for about 16 pounds or $30 more or less. That might sound a little expensive but for the prices here it was really good. We then walked back to our hostel and had a packed lunch on the dock, as our hostel was literally right in front of a lake. On the dock there was a swan that kept floating around and trying to get our food, so we verbally abused it. We then split up as a group, with Lisa and Dani staying back at the hostel to watch Grey's Anatomy, and the rest of us (me, Brandon, Drew, and his girlfriend Katie, who is also a Katie Lynn like my sister) went back into town to look at some books shops and to just walk around town. It was a very nice and quaint town, mostly made up of shops for the people who came there for the outdoor-sports. We also looked around the cemetery of a church towards the edge of town. It was really eerie because we happened to be there when it was on the hour, and so out of nowhere the bells started tolling, and we weren't expecting it. We then met Dani and Lisa for the dinner portion of the evening. It turns out that it was a vegetarian place, but we made do. The food was actually really good, although it lacked a certain meatiness. We then saw Children of Men, with Clive Owen, which was a really good movie. It was about the near future where the world has gone sterile and no children have been born in 18 years. The human race is killing itself and then Clive Owen's character happens upon a group that is harboring a girl that is pregnant. The movie then goes through Clive Owen's efforts to get her to a Human Project where scientists will discover what is different with her. I really liked it, but the war scenes were pretty intense. We then went back to the hostel and went to bed fairly early in anticipation of a day of water-sports. The next morning was kayaking, and then ghyll-scrambling in the afternoon. The kayaking was really fun. I've only ever been canoeing before, and so it was different to be one person doing the job of two. It was really fun when I got the hang of it. It wasn't that cold in the morning, so that was good. We were on the water for probably about 3 hours or so. We then had enough time to eat lunch and get ready to take a bus to go to the place where we would go ghyll-scrambling. Ghyll-scrambling ended up being pretty fun, though cold and wet. Basically we put on harnesses and helmets and then started jumping from rock to rock across a small-ish river. The when we would get to a waterfall we would climb up it to continue down the river. We only hit three or four, and most of them were only about 10 feet tall. The last one was probably 15 or 20 feet high, and that was really exhilarating, climbing that high with cold water splashing down on you the whole time. There were a few times where we were almost completely submerged, so it was freezing cold by the end. The shock of that water was amazing at times. I came away with some cuts on my knuckles from the last climb, but other than that I was relatively unscathed. We then had a few minutes to change and then get back on the bus to go back to the hostel. After everyone showered (mostly to get warm, and secondarily to get clean) we went into to town to get dinner. We were all so tired that we just basically ate in town and then went back to the hostel and slept. The next morning we got up and had breakfast and then got ready to go back to Harlaxton. When I woke up I discovered that my triceps were killing, as were my legs. They still ache even today. We then had a short bus ride with a few stops for scenic pictures, and we then stopped at a small town to have lunch. After that it was about a 5 hour ride back to Harlaxton. Riding that whole way with aching muscles wasn't the most fun, but we made it. When we got back I ate supper, unpacked, and then straightaway jumped into the rough draft that I had put off and had due for today. I ended up picking up the research that I had been doing before I left at about 7 and then finishing around 10. From then on I was writing my paper until about 3:30 in the AM. The paper ended up being 7 pages, which was right at where I needed to be. Needless to say, I'm glad to be done with that, and I'm very tired today. I still have laundry to do, and I have a meeting for one of my classes after dinner. But later this evening, I can go to sleep and be asleep for a good while. England is tiring.

Water-Weekend

This weekend I'll be going to the Lake-District in northwest England. It's a national park or sorts, with lots of lakes (hence the name) and wilderness. I'm leaving in a matter of just under an hour. It will be a fun 5 hour bus ride, so I'll have plenty of time to get some homework done. At the Lake District I'm going to do some kayaking and ghyll scrambling, which is basically jumping from rocks in a river and then climbing a waterfall. It should be fun but wet. To catch up a bit on the week, this Monday we had the opening of the Bistro here on campus. It's a coffee shop by day and a pub by night. At the opening party we had a best-dressed contest. During the Edinburgh weekend I had bought a kilt at Scotland, and so I wore it to the party. This got me nominated for best-dressed, and I ended up tying for first place. It was fun, and I got to wear a kilt. Then yesterday I got my first British Studies exam, and I got a B on it. I was ok with this, because the highest grade was an A-. There were 3 sections on the exam, and I got a B+ on the first and last sections, and a B- on the middle section, which had already expected. Well, I need to get ready to go, so I'll end this. There will be a full report when I get back.

Edinburgh, Home of Many Kilt-Stores, a Castle, and Some Huge Hills

My weekend in Edinburgh was great. It ended up only being me and Lisa and Shuan that went. Josh didn't come, because, as we found out later, he had to spend all of the money that he had getting things figured out with in London. The weekend before Josh had gone to Ireland with his parents who were on vacation. Somewhere along the line he lost his wallet which had all of his personal stuff like passport and driver's license and credit cards in it. So he had to go to the US embassy in London to get things straightened out with his passport. So, long story short, he didn't end up joining us. We left to go to the train station at about 7am, which wasn't great because I had been up until about 2am talking on the internet. So I was fairly tired. Our train ride took a while, as we got to Edinburgh at about 11:30. By this time we were all starving, as we hadn't gotten any breakfast, so we decided to go to our hostel, drop off our stuff, and then find somewhere to eat. Otherwise I know that I for one would've resorted to cannibalism. At this point we got our first look at our hostel, which wasn't great, but wasn't too terrible, I suppose. The room we were in had the beds for 38 people, but it was by no means full, so we were ok. Lisa brought a lock for a locker and so we kept all of our valuables in it. After settling down in the hostel we went out looking for lunch. We eventually chose a TGIFriday's (ironic, I know). They had a decent lunch menu, so it was good. After that we looked around a little bit at the touristy-shops, all of which sold Scottish-clan merchandise out the whazoo. They were fun to look around in. We then went to find Arthur's seat. This is a large hill just outside of the city that is climbable and almost 800-feet off of the ground. It was already to trek to get there, and on the way we stopped at a cemetery with an obelisk in it, as well as the ruins of a classical-style Roman-imitation building. We then walked down into a little section of the town, across it, and then we were at foot of Arthur's Seat. It was a daunting climb, but enjoyable. I was really glad that I had opted to bring the hiking boots that I bought in Grantham a while back. They came in very handy. It took us probably a half an hour to climb all the way to the top, as there were actually two hills to climb up, one after the other. The views on the climb as well as at the top were amazing. I got as many pictures as I could. It was like we were standing on top of the world, and indeed Shaun and I hypothesized that if we lifted our arms that our hands would be outside of the atmosphere. Once we got to the top it was fairly cold and very very windy. I'm pretty sure that if I would've jumped off and spread my jacket like wings I could've flown. But I didn't try that, because then people would expect me to fly everywhere, maybe even wear a costume, and I'm just not ready for that. After we were at the top for a while, both resting and taking pictures, we made the trek back down and then at the bottom we stopped at a small cafe to get some liquid. I was so thirsty that I bought both a half-liter of water and a bottle of Sprite. After we were hydrated again, we decided to walk back into town and shop a little, then go to our hostel and just relax for a little while before we went to dinner. For dinner we decided to go to a cafe right next to our hostel. It ended up being moderately priced and had good food. After that we looked around some more, went into a few shops, and then saw what the night-life was like. It wasn't half as bad as Dublin, I wasn't afraid that I was gonna get jumped most of the time. We then called it a night, and went to bed at an early 9:30-10ish. The next morning we got up in time to have a quick breakfast of lukewarm milk and cereal, and then got going to go to Edinburgh Castle. The castle was a neat experience, because it was right in the middle of the city and on top of a hill, so you could see the surrounding city very easily. Good defensive spot. There were some interesting places in the castle, such as a prison and a graveyard for soldier's dogs (no joke), but it was a little pricey, about $20 or so when converted. So it was interesting, but not $20 interesting. After the castle we walked around to find a place to eat lunch. We ended up going on a side street and finding a restaurant on top of a pub. It was "Edinburgh's Best-Kept Secret" according to the sign. Apparently the sign-maker didn't think that they wanted to keep it a secret. It was good food, so I was pleased, and if they keep it up, they won't be a secret anymore. We then found a bus to take us to Rosslyn Chapel. The chapel was about 6 miles away from Edinburgh, so we definitely weren't going to walk. The chapel was built in the 1400's and it is probably one of the most decorated chapels ever. Almost all of the stone is covered in some sort of carving. It was really beautiful. They had an awning over the whole chapel because some of the restorations done to it in the 1950's caused the stones to retain water, so they have to be aired-out over a period of time, and then they can remove the awning. The plus side to that was that there was a scaffolding that allowed you to walk around the top of the chapel. It was really amazing to think that all of it was made in the 1400's, it seems unreal. After seeing the chapel we took the bus back to Edinburgh and finished our shopping, as we were going to ship out early the next day and wouldn't really have time to do anything. The school had also taken a trip to Edinburgh, so for diner we met up with a friend of ours, Robert, who is also my friend Brandon's roommate. Robert had told us of a good restaurant to go to, and said that he would go again to take us there. Well, that fell through, because the place closed it's kitchen after 7, and it was 8. So then we looked around for another place to eat. We then found a pub that was still serving food, as most of them were the same way as our first attempt, and all of their kitchens had closed at 7. After we were done eating, we got to the heart of the evening's activities: the City of the Dead tour. It was a ghost-tour that we had heard about. Apparently there are accounts of over 200 people being attacked by a poltergeist on the tour, as well as over 800 people who went on the tour and then found unexplained marks on them either during the tour or the next day. I'm a skeptic, so I don't buy it from the beginning. Well, we went on the tour, and as I suspected it was basically a sham. The tour guidess (I don't think that's a word, but I just used it) told us stories that probably weren't true (one story was proven false by another tour guide whom we asked after the tour was over), and then tried to back everything up with sketchy science. Apparently poltergeists feed off fear and are attracted to weak people who are separated from the group. That didn't happen on the tour, even though the tour guidess said that she felt a drop in temperature, which was supposed to signal the presence of the poltergeist. It was actually more fun making fun of the tour after it was over than the actual tour was. I decided that I was gonna start a skeptic's ghost tour, where I just tell people how it is. I don't think I would make much money, but it would be fun regardless. We then went and got ice-cream at McDonald's (again, more American-conveniences in foreign countries irony), which is when Shaun and I decided that at the end of my tour I should serve people Poltergeist-Cream, a clever play on words, so that at least they would get something out of the tour. We then walked with Robert back to the hotel and said good-bye. It was then our turn to walk back to our hostel, and go to bed. It was weird because usually I have had trouble sleeping in the hostels that I've been at, I think because I feel odd about not knowing where I am, but here at the crazy-number-in-one-room-hostel I slept fine. We then got up the next day to catch our train at 10, which actually turned out to be a bus, because there was work being done on the railways. Being on a bus it took longer for us to get home, although the bus didn't go all the way to Grantham, we were only on the bus for about 3 hours and then a train took us the rest of the way home. Overall it was a very fun weekend. If I have the chance I would love to go back and see the Highlands, like the lochs (that's right Nessie, I'm still out to get you) and some other random stuff like the William Wallace monument. Scotland is an amazing place, one of my favorites so far.

Aye, I'm gun ta Scotland (Translation: Yes, I'm going to Scotland)

So the accent doesn't really go over well on the internet, but that's what the title was about. So tomorrow I'm leaving on a train at an extreme early hour (ok, so 7:30-ish isn't that early, but then again, it is) to go to Edinburgh. I'm going with 3 other people: Lisa, Josh, and Shaun. We all have a hostel booked in Edinburgh, and another girl from Harlaxton, Rachel, might be meeting us there. The bad news: we booked a 38-person room in the hostel. I didn't think it was such a good idea at the time, but everyone else seemed to think it was great. We didn't even really save money, as the next lowest number, a 12-person room, was the same exact price. So this will be interesting. In Edinburgh we're planning on seeing Arthur's seat, which is a natural rock formation that from the top of you can have an incredible view of the whole city and country-side. We were also planning on doing an underground chamber tour, kind of like a haunted tour I guess, although I'm not sure how many ghosts we'll encounter. Not on my watch anyway. We are also going to go to Rosalind Chapel, which is a very decorative medieval chapel near Edinburgh, I think. Another thing that I hope to see is the remaining part of Hadrian's Wall, which is a wall built by the Roman emperor Hadrian (big surprise) that formed the border between Roman Briton and modern Scotland, which was populated by the Celtic tribes. So probably no Loch Ness excursion, but hopefully I can get that in before the semester is over. I really want to get a photo that I can sell to the tabloids, because I'm actually gonna remember to bring my camera to the rest of the trips. Here at school I have some work piling up, so I'm gonna have to work a little more on time management, but it's not terrible. I just have to get motivated. Well, here's to Scotland.

Moral of the Story: A Big City is a Big City

Well, my trip to Ireland went well, with few complications. Ok, so that sounds like something a doctor would say after a birth, but anyway. We got to the airport by the train and then waited there until about 8 when our plane left. I didn't sleep any because I have a hard time falling asleep when there is noise and light, and there was an abundance of both there. On top of that I had started to get a cold. I got some Sudafed at the airport and started taking that, so I got a little better, and I took it throughout the trip. At this time I also realized that I had forgotten my camera, so I would have to rely on the pictures of friends. It was a short flight, just a little over an hour, and then we were in Dublin. Since we were an international flight we had to go through the whole customs and passport check, so that took a few extra minutes. We then got a cab to the hotel but we weren't able to check in for a few more hours. So we left our bags there and so the town of Dublin. We ended up staying in the city for a few hours, just basically looking around, and we didn't find much. As a city, it was basically any big city. I'm not saying that to insult anyone's city, I'm just saying that you can see similarities in human behavior and planning. The similarities of cities that are thousands of miles apart just goes to show you that at the core, humans are all the same. Once we got done with our city-exploration, we went back to the hotel because it was past the time that before which we couldn't check in. We then all got showers and took about a 2 hour nap. After that we were going to go back in town to eat, but we waited for the bus for a while and it didn't come. We didn't want to wait anymore, so we just went back to the hotel and had dinner at the hotel's restaurant. It was fairly expensive, so we didn't do that again. It would have been the equivalent of about $20 for a bowl of pasta and vegetables. Then we went to bed, and I had no trouble falling asleep then. We got up to go a little after 7, because we were hoping to catch a 9 or 9:30 train to Cork. Ange, one of the girls that I was with, wanted to go to another town called Waterford to check out the crystal factory that they have there. Dani and Brandon didn't want to go, so we split up and me and Ange and Lisa went to Waterford and Dani and Brandon went to Cork on a round trip ticket. We said that we would meet up at the rail-station in Cork to go to Blarney Castle together. However we didn't know the times for the castle, nor did we set a meeting time, so we were basically in the dark. None of us thought of it, though, at the time. Waterford was great, I'm really glad we went. We looked around and got some touristy things at the shops. We had dinner at a small sandwich shop, which had great food and reasonable prices. We didn't take a tour of the crystal factory, we just went to the gift shop. The crystal was amazing; they had everything from bowls to wine-glasses, and it was all moderately priced, and somehow tax-free, which even held up at the check-out. It was all very pretty. We were then going to get a train to go to Cork, but the train station told us that there was no good way to Cork from Waterford, so we would be doing a lot of switching, and thus a bus from Waterford to Cork would be a better idea. We took the bus, the only problem being that Dani and Brandon were expecting us at the train station, but we figured it wouldn't be a big deal to just go and find them. The bus ride took about 2 1/2 hours, but it was more than worth it. The views alone were amazing, with huge rolling hills in the distance and green everywhere that you looked. We even got to see the ocean for a brief time. It was very pretty. We then got to Cork and asked a man working at the bus station when the castle closed. We thought he said 7, and it was about 6:40, so we had to make a decision. Through train times and the power of deduction we figured out that Dani and Brandon would've been there about 3 hours before we got there, and so most likely they would've already gone to the castle, because being on a round trip ticket they would have to go back or they would waste their money. So we left and went on a bus to Blarney, hoping to get into the castle. It turned out that the castle closed at 6:30 and the last tour had been at 6. So we missed it completely. We then had to figure out what to do from there. We figured that it would be silly to go back to Dublin, as we were already there, so that we could just see the castle in the morning and then leave. So we went to the rail station to find Dani and Brandon and talk things over with them. We looked around at the station and couldn't find them, and then realized that the last train for Dublin had left about a half hour before we had got there. So we made the executive decision to find a bed and breakfast and just sleep there for the night and see the castle in the morning. Then we would go back to Dublin to meet back up with Dani and Brandon. We found a fairly cheap place on the second try. We went into one and the price was more than we wanted to pay, but the second one was a better offer. So we got the key and then went in town to get some food. We were starving and so after looking around for a short while we settled on a pizza place. After we ate we found and internet/phone cafe where you would pay for said usage by the half hour. We looked up the number for our hotel and left a message for Dani and Brandon that we were ok and would see them tomorrow. We then went back to the bed and breakfast and went to bed. The castle opened at 9, and we got breakfast from the bed and breakfast (hence the name, go figure), so we got up in time to eat a little and then go to the castle. It was great, my favorite castle out of the 3 that I've seen. I think what I liked about it was that it was basically ruined; there was no roof, and the rooms where the floors would've been wood were gone. The others castles had lots of reconstructed stuff, and while I'm sure they looked as they would have in their time, it was just nice to see a castle that hadn't had anything done to it. You could see how time had affected it. The area around the castle was also very beautiful. We didn't have much time because we had to check out by 11. So we went through the castle somewhat quickly, but still getting to see what we wanted. At the top was the famous Blarney Stone. For those of you who don't know what it is (I didn't, I just knew that it was some rock that you were supposed to kiss), legend goes that the king of the castle had a stutter. One day he saved a witch from drowning, and she said if he would kiss a certain stone at the top of the castle that he would lose his stutter and speak normally. It is said to have worked, and so you are supposed to kiss the stone to speak better. I don't think it worked. We then went in town to try and get a taxi back, which took longer than we expected. So once we got the taxi it was basically 11, so we were afraid that we would be charged extra for the room. Also we had found out that the train for Dublin left at 11:30. So we were crunched for time. Our driver was really nice and was driving faster than he probably should have been to get us there. When we got to the bed and breakfast Lisa and I ran up to the room to get our stuff while Ange went to the train station to buy our tickets. The guy at the desk didn't act like anything was wrong, so as far as I know our slightly late check-out wasn't a problem. We then jogged across the street to the station and made it on our train with just a few minutes to spare. When we got back to the hotel Dani and Brandon weren't there, but they had left notes telling us that they would be back at about 5:30 to meet us for dinner. So we got cleaned up and tested until they got back. We then got both stories, and luckily everything had worked out. They had gotten to see the castle the day before, like we thought. We then went out for dinner with plans to take a Ghost-bus tour of Dublin, where you get on a double-decker bus and drive around and are told about the supernatural history of Dublin. Well it just so happened that as we were looking for somewhere to eat we came across said bus, and they were getting ready to leave for the tour. So we got on and paid ad decided to eat dinner afterwards. It was an interesting tour, but it was more just a guy telling stories. We got off the bus in a few places to check things out, but that wasn't really all that exciting. I'm not really a believer when it comes to ghosts. I certainly believe in a supernatural world, but not one populated by translucent people. It's much scarier than that, and that's why ghosts would be the last thing I'm worried about when it comes to the supernatural. But anyway, it was a little expensive, but they stories were very interesting. We then got food at a food-court type place and then went back to the hotel. We had to get up very early to get to the airport on time, 4:30 in the morning. Our flight left at 6:30, so that was a very early morning. We got back just fine, and when we got to Grantham we had lunch/dinner at a pub called the Whetherspoon, which we lovingly call the "W", which is very reasonably priced and has great food. We then made it back to the manor and basically did nothing productive for the rest of the day. All in all, Ireland was beautiful, and the weekend was great.