Day 24 Back to the States

My final adventure was getting back home.  I got up early so I could say goodbye to the boys.  They seemed a bit tired that morning because they probably had too much fun over the weekend.  Plus going to bed immediately after eating dinner so late and going immediately after has gotta be a little strange on the system.  The three of us sat at the table eating breakfast before they left for school with their dad.  I got some kisses and hugs goodbye from the three of them and off they went to start their day.  

We said goodbye and off I went out of the apartment, said goodbye to the Seine and headed up to the T2 line.  I hopped off at La Defense, bought my ticket from the same girl who couldn't help me before (she was the only truly curt French person I encountered) and off I went to the center of Paris via the RER A line.  Once in the middle of downtown, not that I would know it because I never left the station I transferred over to the B line to the airport.  For the second time I needed to go to the end of the line.  All and all it took me a little over an hour to get to the end of the line.  The nice thing was I didn't have anyone else touching me while traveling in the middle of the day.  It was a nice way to conclude my metro experience. 

When I finally got into the airport it took a bit of time to get checked in.  They have 3 large terminals with the number 2 terminal having probably 8 arms on it.  I found 2G and walked almost the entire length of the check in desks.  I checked in in one area and was sent to another location further down to check my bag.  That might have been a mistake because I have to pick it up in New York after customs.  Finally I made it through the passport check and into the terminal.  They were very efficient getting everyone though bag checks and through the metal detectors and I didn't even have to take my shoes off!

Once I got in there were all the fancy shops and a couple Paris souvenir shops.  I stopped in the souvenir shop and bought a small travel wallet with the money that Alice would not take.  After I found the macroon shop that I was hoping was there.  I bought some of them to take home with me to share with the family since I knew they were good from the day before, in fact too good.  I swore to the money gods for buying the wallet and not finding the macroons first.  So I had a bit left to spent in Euros buying a soda and some Kinder bars.  

Finally it was time to board the biggest plane to date, the A380.  Two complete floors full of passengers.   The plane is huge!  We got off late due to baggage getting on board and then sat on the runway for a while.  Finally almost an hour late we were off for the States. Since I was an Air France flight it came with an aperitif of champagne before the meal.  The meal was actually pretty good and of course had a bit of cheese on the side.  I watched a couple movies and never got up from my seat for the entire 8 hour flight.  Wow!
I got into New York city around 2 in the afternoon.  I went through customs again very quickly.  The US residents line was practically nothing while the visiting passports and visas had at least an hour.  Good thing because I only had about an hour between my flights.
Per security requirements I had to claim my bag, only immediately to recheck it about 30 steps away so it could be checked by American security.  Right...
The next step was finding my terminal.  I had come into the international terminal and needed to find the domestic.  I looked on the map and it looked like it was next door.  So a wandering I went.  No there, not there.  Oh the terminals are not connected.  Go outside and walk to the terminal.  Ok...  We I finally made it there with about 30 minutes to spare.  I got on my flight to Kansas City which was a little commuter jet.  3 seats across with about half of the plane open.  My last flight had 11 across with no open seats.  A bit of a difference. 
I made it home by 7pm which was 3am in Paris.  I stayed up for a couple hours to try to get back to central time.  I had such a fantastic time on my entire trip.
London, Oxford, Stratford-Upon-Avon, York, Hardrian's Wall

Scottish Border, Edinburgh

Edinburgh Military Tattoo, Edinburgh

Glasgow, Loch Lommond, Belfast, Giant's Causeway, Aran Islands, Galway, Cliffs of Moher, Killarney, Blarney Castle, Rock at Cashel

Dublin, Llangollen, Cardiff, Bath

Bath, Stonehenge, London

London

London

Versailles

Disneyland Paris

Paris

Paris

I hope that I get to have an experience like this again in my lifetime.

Day 8 Into the Republic of Ireland

After a very informational and fun evening in Belfast it was time to head south into Ireland proper.  

The first stop was along the Irish coast.  A place called Giant's Causeway.  

The story goes that there once was a giant named Fynn McCool.  The causeway used to connect Ireland to Scotland.  Fynn was a smaller giant with a wife and they had heard that a huge giant was on his way to challenge Fynn. So Flynn’s wife dressed him up like a baby and painted a rock like a steak and a steak like a rock.  She gave the steak that looked like a rock to Fynn and when the other giant came across she introduced that giant to Fynn's baby.  Fynn ate his steak while the other giant tried to eat his own and could not.  So after seeing the size of the baby and how easily it at the steak when he could not he decided against meeting Fynn himself and ram back to Scotland destroying the causeway as he went.  A Great story and an amazing place. 

All of the stones that are scattered around are hexagonal.  Volcanic eruptions created the size and shapes of the stones.  The stones even create natural staircases around the entire area.  Truly amazing to walk around and again take too many photos.

Our next stop was our Northern Ireland in a town called Londonderry.  Like Belfast there is still a lot of religious tension.  Around the interior of the city is another wall.  But compared to Belfast's relatively young wall Londonderry's looked to be about at least 300 years old.  

Cannons were along all the city walls.  These days the walls look like they are protecting the stores, restaurants, and shopping malls.  The city is also known as Derry.  There are more Catholic Irish leaning people in town that don't want the city connected to the UK.  On our way out of town there were more Union Jacks than in town representing the Protestants in the area.  

After our lunch stop in Londonderry we drove south to the border into the Republic of Ireland.  Again there was nothing really showing the change of country outside of a sculpture in a round about.  My poor passport feels so unused. 

We arrived into our next city for the next two nights of Galway.  The hotel we stayed at was on the outskirts of town.  Very sketchy area with missing letters from buildings and abandoned buildings.  A little off-putting when your sheets have holes in them, you go to the front desk to request a sheet change and they just give you the sheet to change yourself.  Or as one other person on the tour thought that someone was constructing the world’s largest ransom sign.

So after changing my sheet we went into town for dinner. Being at another port city I decided on a seafood pasta dish.  The price was a little steep and but so was the portion size, way to big.  So after a long day I headed in early to get a good night sleep for another day in Ireland the next day.

Day 7 The Walls of Northern Ireland

We left Glasgow to ferry across the sea to Belfast.  After a little drive to the port we drove our bus onto the barge.  We were not allowed to stay on our coach when we were moving across the seat but thankfully the barge was state of the art.  

There were dining halls, restaurants, shops, seats all around, and decks to wonder around. I got a refillable hot drink cup for free because the credit card reader was on the fritz.  Score!  The journey only took a little bit more than 2 hours and we landed easily on Northern Ireland.

Our next stop was Belfast.  Belfast has a very checkered past. I was a little hesitant to visit the city because of the problems they had had in the recent past.  We started our visit with a black cab tour.  We had four drivers from both religions that took our group around the city to both the protestant and catholic areas.  1969 to 1998 were the real battle years.  Like most conflicts of the past only a few people made the lives of those around them hell.  The protestants believe that the country of Northern Ireland should stay a part of the UK.  In their area the Union Jack flag flew from every home, street lamp, and between the streets.  There were paintings along the walls of most of the buildings that depicted those who lost their lives during the conflict.  But the paintings in the Protestant areas they were primarily what the rest of the world would probably consider war lords.  

A few of them were killed after the official conflict ended in 2000.  The stories we were told is that many of the leaders were killed by other factions on their own side because of in fighting.  There was one painting depicting a lone sniper that was painted in a way that the rifle barrel seemed to follow you wherever you went that they call the protector.  Very creepy.  

Our next stop was to the Belfast wall.  Around the wall here are 10 gates and all of them are still on use.  It is what you imagine that the Berlin wall should look like.  The wall stands 45 feet tall.  People to this day still try to throw things over the wall.  There was a clearly patched area from a Molotov cocktail that didn't make it over.  Many people have signed the wall hoping that their signature and the wall will be a thing of the past. 

We signed the wall and headed into the Catholic area.  The Catholics want to be a part of Ireland rather than staying with the UK.  Our stop inside the walls was at a memorial.  The most recent troubles started in 1969 on Bombay drive where the memorial was with the wall only about 10 feet away.  The homes that border the wall have cages protecting the back of their homes from stuff being thrown over still to this day.  Many people lost their lives including a few children as young as 4.  Photos of those lost and their names were placed around he memorial.  

Our final stop was next to a memorial wall that memorialized both sides of he conflict and spoke to current issues.  We took a group picture here.  All said and done that during the conflict 3800 lives were lost, more Catholics than Protestants, and about half of those lives lost were bystanders.  Such a silly thing to fight about and there is truly still no end in sight but at least it is better.

The other thing that Belfast is known for is their port and specifically the building of the Titanic.  All around the city there were stuff to buy, a new museum to visit (if i ever come back I'll to there but there was not enough time), and items from it all around.  Our restaurant had quite a few decorations around including the placemats.  

I ordered a leek soup, which was very good, and fish and chips that was too greasy.  It was a bit disappointing not to get the best fish and chips but I suppose you can't always win.  After dinner a group of the girls went downstairs to a karaoke bar.  When we first got there it was pretty much dead in there but that meant that a lot of us could get up to sing.  I had never sang in a karaoke bar before so it was a new experience for me.  The problem was when more locals started coming to the bar they were ignoring our song requests so after about 15 minutes of listening to Irish people singing sad country songs it was time to go and get a decent nights sleep for he next days adventure.  

If I ever get a chance to come back to Ireland I would defiantly come back to Belfast.