UK and Ireland Trip!

It's funny how being on vacation for two weeks both feels like a long time to be away and yet somehow goes by so quickly.  I'm now in the comfortable place of basking in the warm familiarity of home and reflecting on the novelty of having spent time as a stranger in a different land. I thought I would do a quick day by day rundown of the trip for both my own record and for anyone who may be interested.

Day 1: Arrived at Manchester Airport at 8:15am Sunday April 11, took cab to Menzies Pinewood hotel in Handforth (a small city in the greater Manchester area), took train from Handforth station to Manchester Piccadily Station, ate breakfast at a cafe in the station, walked around Manchester stopping to shop in a few department stores and getting a mini manicure at one of them, toured John Ryland's beautiful gothic library, took the train back to Handforth, walked back the our hotel, ate a four course supper at the hotel, went to bed at 8:30pm (amazing we lasted so long considering the 7 hour time difference!)
Day 2: Woke up at around 9am, checked out of hotel, took cab to Manchester Piccadily Station, ate breakfast and shopped around at the station while waiting for our train, took two hour train ride to London, took cab from London Station to Central Park Hotel in Kensington, saw Andrew Lloyd Webbers new show "Love Never Dies," ate dinner at a little Italian style restaurant down the street from the Adelphi Theater in the presence of a group of men that quite literally looked like the mafia, then went back to the hotel and to bed.
Day 3: Woke up very early and rushed down in time to catch bus to Victoria Station where our tour was leaving from. Toured Windsor Castle (yes the Queen was there, but no we didn't see her), the city of Bath with all of its layers, and mysterious Stonehenge. We arrived back later in the day and walked around Picadilly Circus, saw the Parliament Buildings and Buckingham Palace, went for dinner at a local pub, and then went back to the hotel and to bed.
Day 4: Woke up early and took train from the London Station to Holyhead Station in Whales, took ferry from Holyhead to Dublin Port, and took cab to Ibiz Dublin City Centre Hotel. After settling in we took bus downtown, shopped around, walked to the famous Temple Bar area, ate dinner at a Pub and listened to live music.
Day 5: We slept in a little the next morning and went downstairs for a late breakfast. From there we took the bus back to the downtown area, walked to Trinity College to see the Book of Kells exhibit, ate lunch at the visitor centre, walked to Christ Church Cathedral and took a self guided tour of both the upper level and the crypt below (which contained a mumified cat chasing a mumified mouse as well as some of the outfits from the HBO series "The Tudors"). From there we walked up to the Dublin Castle and took a very informative tour through the newer parts of the castle as well as a look at its ancient foundations. After that we ate a mediocre dinner at a nearby pub and signed up to go on a ghost (night) tour of Dublin (It was pretty cheesy but fairly informative and the acting was funny). After that we went for a snack at McDonalds and were scared out of there by a rather disturbing site (ask me if you'd like to know). From there we took a cab back to out hotel and went to bed.
Day 6: We slept in a bit again and went for another late breakfast. After that we checked out of our hotel and took a cab to the train station for our trip up to Belfast. A few hours later we arrived and took a cab to the Arlington (out hotel for the next two nights). Once we had settled into our room we both realized that we hadn't booked anything for the night so we decided to take a private tour of the political sites in Belfast. Irene and I learned a lot about the political tension between the Protestant Loyalists and the Catholic Nationalists although admittedly we both had a hard time understanding our tour guides thick Irish accent. We signed the peace wall and then went walking around Belfast in hopes of discovering a good place to eat dinner. We eventually found a large indoor/outdoor mall which contained an elevator up into an observation deck from which you could see most of the city. We shopped a bit, went up to the observation deck, and then ate dinner at an Italian/American restaurant (we both had banoffee sundaes for dessert yum!).
Day 7: Irene and I both woke up pretty early for our day trip to the Antrim Coast. We visited the Carrick-a-rede rope bridge, a few castles, and the famous Giant's Causeway. Our bus driver had the best Scottish accent ever and told us interesting stories sorrounding each of the sites we visited! After that trip we ate dinner and went to bed.
Day 8: We woke up a little late for our train, yet somehow, despite our slow moving and grouchiness, we managed to make our train for Lurgan Station which we arrived at about half an hour later at 10:30am. We met my Aunt and Uncle at the Lurgan Station and they took us to their favorite church out there. The service reminded me a lot of the Victory services my sister has dragged me to on occasion but with much better quality musicians. I was slightly disturbed by the message which seemed to be saying basically that all humanity and all fleshly or physical things are evil and detestable to God, but that's okay because he loves your soul. Oh and apparently you're not really worhsipping and God's not really moving unless everyone starts dancing around and shouting out in tongues. Yeah not really my style of church, but to each there own. From there they drove us to my Aunt's sisters farm to meet their family and have supper (they eat supper in the early afternoon and have tea for dinner). The family was very friendly and showed us around the farm as well as feeding us pretty much constantly. They invited us to stay the night there and let them take us on a tour of the Mourne Mountains. We decided to stay and so set up camp in their living room for the evening.
Day 9: We woke up the next morning and set off on our adventure. We stopped first in Downpatrick where I discovered a Saint Patrick Centre. We ate lunch across the street and then toured the Saint Patrick Centre (which is really extraordinary considering the fact that these particular cousins are strongly Protestant.) From there we drove to Newcastle where we stopped to admire the coast and have ice cream. After that we drove through the Mourne Mountains and back to the farm. We ate a quick supper and took to the road again with my Aunt and Uncle for the two hour drive to Bohevny House. We stopped in Enniskillen for groceries and then took a winding and bumpy road from there to the retreat house. Once we settled in we had tea and then went to bed.
Day 10: We slept in nice and late just enjoying the peace and quiet of the area. Once we had dressed and eaten my Aunt and Uncle took us to see the Marble Arch Caves which were only about a 20 minute drive away. We took the 75 minute tour which invloved lots of stairs, a boat, and a hike through the inside of the caves stopping to admire some of the more interesting formations that had occured over time. After that we went for a hike to find a geocash my uncle had been wanting to find. We drove back to the house for dinner and then a little later went for a night walk for 2 hours.
Day 11: We slept in again and then my Aunt and Uncle drove us to the Atlantic Coast to see a beach called silver strand. It was a beautiful light sand beach with large jutting cliffs on all sides, a long winding stairway down, and beautiful silver stones that almost glowed in the sunlight. We walked around the beach looking at the few sea creatures that were around and admiring the waterfalls along the cliff. From there we went back home for pizza and a movie. We watched Shawcase Theater's rendition of the Charles Dickens' novel "David Copperfield". It was so good that Irene and I stayed up late wrapped up in blankets watching both parts before going to bed. 
Day 12: We woke up early enough to have a nice breakfast and go for another walk before heading into Enniskillen to catch our bus for the three hour trip to Dublin. The drive was long and the company was shall we say interesting? Nah scary was more like it. Anyway we made it to our hotel for the night, had dinner, and were pretty much ready for bed after that.
Day 13: We woke up very early for our ferry from Dublin back to Holyhead and watched interestedly as the passengers drank beer after beer with their breakfast (strange). We ended up having a four hour wait for our train, so we walked around Holyhead and ate lunch there. To be honest it was not a very attractive city. Finally our train arrived and we begun our long train journey back up to Manchester. We ended up seated across from two guys who spent the majority of the trip trying to get our attention by telling crude jokes and staring at us for embarrassingly long periods of time. Finally we made it to Bewley's Airport hotel and found ourselves in a full size room with two double beds! We went for a nice dinner at the restaurant and enjoyed the evening (despite the snippy waiter).
Day 14: We woke up with plenty of time to spare in the hopes of getting good seats on our flight and found ourselves with a lot of spare time (our flight was delayed for a few hours). So we ate a nice leisurely breakfast at a restaurant in the airport and then spent the rest of the time shopping and sitting and reading. Eventually we made it on the plane (and with good seats!) but there was a problem concerning a unclaimed bag on board. An hour or so later we finally took off and arrived back in Calgary around 7pm that night!

It was a great trip but I was definitely getting tired of travelling by the end of it and am happy to be home!