Europe: Entry the second.

This entry was written by Bruyère whilst in Europe.

So, it's our last night in London. Let me bring you all up to speed. (By the way, I spent £2 to be able to type this, which is about $4, so you all better read this!!!) Our trip started out HORRIBLY. We were supposed to leave Vegas at 2pm, but the hydraulic and electrical systems went out on the plane at the runway, so they taxi'd us back and made us get off. The next flight to LA was at 6pm, but our connecting flight to Dublin was at 5...so aftrer 2 hours fighting with the *VERY* rude American Airlines staff, we got a flight to LA, but they didn't know if we could get a place to stay the night there. We got there and the LA staff was excellent, we got comped a fine hotel room, and 3 meals, plus they couldn't get us on a flight to Dublin for 4 days, so they booked us one to Heathrow in London then a connector to Dublin. So all in all we lost only 1 day 4 hours. Plus, on the flight from LA to London, they had to accomadate a large family so we got bumped from coach to business class...and on an international flight its awesome!!! Champagne, Bose speaker system, a linen menu and tablecloths, little fruits and cheeses...I mean the dinner choices included veal. Plus, free Cartoon Network! I slept most of the flight but Tannah couldn't so he was exhausted the whole next day.

Seong-Hwan picked us up at the airport, (thanks Seong-Hwan!!) and showed us around Àtha Cliath (Dublin) and helped us get used to hostelling. He booked a great hostel for us too, the 4 Courts Hostel. Rated like in the top 5 for the past 3 years. We have great pics of the river and Temple Bar District. He also showed us how to ride the trains, and we went to Bré (Bray) to see the beach and the countryside.

We only got to stay there 2 days and we had to leave for Scotland, since our trip was behind already. Except oops, I forgot to book passage to Scotland. So, $299 later we were there. BEAUTIFUL. Our hostel was in the heart of Old Town, not 5 mns from Edinburgh Castle. The city's multi levelled, as in streets upon buildings and alleys leading into wynds behind gardens on top of other buildings. And the history I learned at the castle...the Scots have a lot to be proud of. The Stone of Destiny and the Royal Honours were awe-inspiring. We only got to stay there a day. :-(

Then London. Okay I thought stuff before was expensive...$1.25 to the euro...but its $1.90 to the pound sterling. A freaking McDonalds value meal is $14! Our hostel is great tho, it serves cheap food (bland, but okay) and it's got a bar and a nightclub too. Right off the Tube station, Russell Square. The Tube (London's Underground, or Metro) is excellent, we were pros after an hour. Buckingham Palace was...um...not as impressive. The Changing of the Guards was cool tho, and one of the fuzzy-hatted men said hi and I have a pic of him doing that. We saw a ton of stuff in London, and there's tons more, but we had to pick and choose. There's a statue of Abe Lincoln here, in a park square dedicated to great statesmen! He's a few meters behind Winston Churchill. Oh, and the computer keyboards overseas are different. It has more keys, like £ and € so there's only one shift key which is way too small, and the @ sign is in a diff place, etc. My fingering's way off.

Hmm...4 mins left...

We're leaving for Paris tomorrow. So far here in the British Isles the American sentiment hasn't been too bad...most people will mouth off about Bush but not as bad as most Americans I know. I heard its a little worse on the mainland but we'll see.

Oh, also, culture shock: nude people everywhere. America is prudish, I decided. In regular magazines there's just pics of naked people, standing there doing stuff. And the shows, on prime time we heard about chomping carpet and all kinds of other stuff that I can't repeat here. The big news in Europe right now is that Rrance and Holland have both rejected the EU Constitution, which is a huge deal but honestly I'm not sure why, except that now, it probably won't be ratified.