As Jake's dad is orginally from Switzerland, we wanted to visit some of the places he grew up and where his family lived. We arranged to meet Thomas, one of Jake's dad's cousins. He took us around Lieli, showing us the old (like 800 years) town meeting building, which is still in use, and a beautiful church, at the top of the hill overlooking the area around the village.
Yesterday, we took a train from Luzern to Grindelwald, a small mountain village. The main portion of the train ride was actually from Luzern to the station in Interlaken with just a short ride up the mountain after switching trains. While we didn't spend time in Interlaken, it was a very beautiful train ride getting there. Interlaken sits in a valley between two beautiful lakes. Here's the one we went by.
We had originally booked a flight from London to Zurich, and then planned on taking a train from there to Luzern. Our flight was cancelled though, so we decided a day on the train with a stop in Paris was the way to go.
So we found ourselves getting up at 3:30 am (way too early) and taking a bus at 4:15 to King's Cross Station. No line at platform 9 3/4!
Yesterday was the day we planned on seeing many of the iconic sights in London. We started out the morning walking through the Kensington Gardens around Kensington Palace.
As we were down to our last bit of clean clothes, yesterday began with laundry. We had booked this particular studio because the offered laundry facilities in the basement. It seemed simple. After getting ready and moving our laundry over to the dryer we took a short walk over to Holland Park and Kyoto Gardens. Both were very beautiful and made you forget you were in London.
Our last day in Ireland was a very rainy one. We started off the morning with another delicious meal provided by our hosts, and then we were packing our bags for our next adventure.
We started off Friday the same as the two days before: with a bike ride. However, this ride was quite a bit shorter, only a few miles from the B&B to downtown to return our bikes to the shop. After that, we walked to the ruins of Ross Castle, once a stronghold in Southern Ireland.
The second day of biking was a bit rougher than the first, as you might guess. We were definitely feeling the distance we'd already traveled. Fortunately, we did get to start off the day with a delicious breakfast provided by our host, Clare, and the sun was shining brightly. Hard to believe anyone can get tired of the view here.
Today, we drove the final stretch to Killarney and dropped off the car with barely any hiccups. We managed to not hit anything except for a bush on the side of the road (No scratches though! And it really was the bush's fault). We dropped off our luggage and began our next adventure.
The agenda for today: Bike. Eat lunch. Bike again. Eat dinner. Bike more.
Yesterday, we rented a car in Galway. It was Jake's first time driving on the left side of road (but not too far left) and the rent-a-car guy basically gave him a pop quiz before he'd give him the key. "If you're in a roundabout, and don't know where you're going, what do you do? No, stay in it." "What's the Capitol of Ireland? ... That's right, Dublin. All roads lead to Dublin. That's how you'll get out of Galway; follow the signs for Dublin."
We got up bright and early this morning for our bus tour of the beautiful island of Inis Mor, the biggest of the Aran Islands (filming location of Leap Year starring Amy Adams!).
Today's the day! We're off to great places. We're off and away.
Our trip from Madison to Galway was definitely an adventure in transportation! The day began with a car ride from Robin (Thanks Robin!). Then a bus ride to O'Hare. From there we flew to London (and nearly missed our connecting flight to Dublin!). Next we took a bus from Dublin to Galway, which included a transfer. Our transportation adventure is over yet though, as we ended the day with a taxi ride to our cottage.
Hello and welcome to our blog! It seems like we have been planning our honeymoon forever; it’s hard to believe that it is finally here! We are excited to share our adventures with you through this blog. It should be a real "American Tail," but we're hoping we don't get washed overboard!
