Haggerty In The Hague

At the end of January, we decided we should leave the cold and dreary Hague and travel to Ireland - which was equally as cold and dreary, but hey, it was still Ireland.  We arrived in Cork on Thursday evening and decided we had to experience a typical Irish pub.  We went to John Henchy’s which was very close to the B&B we were staying at.  We enjoyed Guinness, Beamish (Cork’s local brew), and a fantastic Irish band.  Great start to the trip!

The next day we got up early and made our way to the bus station to visit Blarney.  Along the way, Matt got a fantastic shot of the River Lee which runs right through the middle of Cork.  Looks like the camera is paying off!

It took about 20 minutes by bus to get to Blarney so we were able to see some of the countryside.  When we arrived, it was VERY foggy, a bit rainy, and cold, but we decided to brave the weather and walk around the grounds of the castle for a bit.  There were many interesting things, including an “enchanted” forest, and some beautiful gardens and waterfalls.

We finally made up to the castle and walked through the building and up to the top where we got to kiss the stone and per legend, get the gift of gab!

After walking around some more we the fog finally lifted and we were off to a great start of the day.  Our next stop was the Jameson distillery in Midleton.  We took a very interesting tour, and even got to do a bit of whisky tasting!

After the Jameson tour, we made our way back to Cork and had a delicious Irish meal and another great night at a local pub where they were playing traditional irish music, fiddles and all

The next day we wandered around Cork a bit before got on the train to our next destination - Dublin.  We saw many of the historic sites in the city and also went to the English Market which was a huge indoor market full of fresh meats and veggies.

After the market, we spent the rest of the afternoon on the train to Dublin. As soon as we got there we checked into our hotel and started exploring.  We walked and saw the Molly Malone statue (big boobs and all) and grabbed dinner in the Temple Bar area.  At that point it was fairly late so we decided to go back to the hotel and rest up for our next big day of siteseeing.

Sunday we started the day by viewing St. Patrick’s Cathedral.  The church was absolutely beautiful and was actually the site Handel played The Messiah for the first time in Ireland.

We looked around the church and then walked to Trinity College to see the famous Book of Kells.  The college itself was interesting as it was completely gated so you could only enter the campus from certain points along the street. Unfortunately, we were unable to take pictures of the Book of Kells or of the Library where the Book is held (which was incredibly impressive with books stacked what appeared to be 4 or 5 stories high), but if you ever go to Dublin it is a must see. Very interesting!

Our sightseeing continued after lunch where we saw Christ Church.  This is the “state church” where the Irish government attends Mass.  We were able to explore the inside of the church as well as the crypts below the church.  The crypts were very cool and had some very old, interesting things in them-  even had some gallows from the 1600s!

Our final stop for the day was the Guinness factory.  This was pretty typical for a brewery tour but the Guinness you got at the end was the best Guinness you will ever taste.  It was divine - AND it came with a 360 degree view of Dublin!

After a long day of touring, we were starving so we stopped in the oldest bar in Dublin for another tasty Guinness and some well needed rest.  We then went to the Temple Bar area again for a tasty dinner of Irish meats and cheeses and some local brews.  Overall a very successful day!

The next day was our last day in Ireland so we did a bit more wandering- we saw St. Stephen’s Green which was a beautiful park in the middle of the city and also saw some of the local shopping areas.  By late morning, we unfortunately had to catch a plane back to Den Haag, but despite the weather, we really enjoyed Ireland and would love to go back again!  If you’d like to see all of our pictures, check them out here and here!

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Lindsey and I decided to take a long weekend in London during the winter.  We got in late on Thursday night and started the tourism early on Friday morning.  First stop was the Tower of London, which was introduced to us by an excellent Beefeater tour.  The Beefeaters, also known as Yeomans, used to be the people looking after prisoners and watching the crown jewels, but nowadays mostly serve as tour guides.

The Beefeater gave us a tour of the grounds, showed us the Inner Ward, the famous ravens, and an old church.  After this, we went into see the crown jewels, which was impressive, especially with no other tourists around to share them with.  We also viewed an exhibition, “Dressed to Kill”, on the history of armor which was very interesting.

After the Tower of London, we walked around the town to see some of the major sights.  We walked on the London Bridge and checked out St Paul’s Cathedral.

We ultimately made our way over to the Government section of town to see the PM’s house at 10 Downing Street (not too impressive, the Parliament building and Big Ben (very impressive), and Westminster Abbey (excellent).

We spent the better part of the afternoon in Westminster Abbey.  We started off with getting a tour by one of the Abbey vergers.  The Abbey has a number of vergers that are non-religious positions used to support the church and its operations.  The verger took us around the entire church, showing all of the great people that are buried there, including Darwin, Dickens, and William & Mary.  The verger recommended we stay for that night’s evensong and saved us a seat in the pews nearby the young boys who sing there - the service was exceptional. We topped off our night with a visit to a Cornish pub recommended by our friend Rob, which did not disappoint - offering a good selection of tasty cask ales.

The next day we started off with a walk through Hyde Park.  This large park was quite nice and was just nextdoor to Harrod’s Department store, which we went to after the walk.  The department store was amazing - unlike any other department store we’ve been to before.  They had a huge Wizard of Oz display in the display windows and outside the store.

After Harrod’s we went over to see the changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace.  The place was packed with tourists, but we stll managed to get a decent spot nearby a statue in front of the palace.  The show itself was interesting, but probably something we don’t need to do again.

Next we went to check out some of the shopping areas in the middle of town, including Oxford Circus and Piccadilly Circus.  There was a lot going on around these areas, as there was a shopping festival being held to get people out shopping for Christmas.

That night we went to dinner and a show at one of the theaters around Leicester Square.  We saw 39 Steps - a comedy play adapted from the Hitchcock film.  It was in a quaint, old theater, so we felt like we got a good experience.

On the last day we went to the British Museum before we left town.  The highlights of this were the Assyrian, Eqyptian, and Greek exhibits.  On really cool part was the special exhibit on the pieces from the Parthenon.  In the early 1800s, Lord Elgin legally obtained the pieces from the Greek government, because they were unable to care for them.  The whole exhibit is a controversy now, as Greece maintains it’s able to care for the marbles now, but the British do not want to give them back.

No trip to London would be complete without seeing some Harry Potter fanfare.  We saw the Platform 9 3/4 from the Harry Potter novels, which is the start of the track for Hogwart’s Express.

We ended our trip with a nice Sunday meal, taking advantage of the many Sunday roasts available.  The food in this country was perfect for cold weather food that will warm you up!

Click here for a link to all of our pictures from London!

Travel, United Kingdown, Winter