Jessica Writes

I haven’t posted since Sunday because I picked up a nasty cold, and it has really affected what we have gotten to do.

After leaving Dublin yesterday, we caught a short flight to London. The city is awesome — the combo of old and new, similar to New York city but not quite. We took a walk through the theater district and purchased some discount tickets to see We Will Rock You, the Queen musical. Chris really wanted to see it, I would have preferred seeing Kelly Osbourne in Chicago but I have been a drag the last few days so I let him choose.

We ate dinner at a great little cozy restaurant and checked out a pub. It was a great night.

Today, we got up will all the intentions to see the major sights of London. First we went to the Tower of London, which was fascinating, and we got a great historical tour from a Beefeater (a Yeomen Warder) — guards of the Tower of London.

My favorite highlight was seeing the crown jewels. The royals definitely had some bling going on. We saw what is the second world’s largest diamond, 530 carats!! It was unreal.

We also saw the axe that beheaded Anne Boleyn, and I just finished reading a historial fiction about her — so that was cool in a grisly sort of way.

After the Tower of London we went to Westminster to take a look at Big Ben.

Then that was about all the excitement I could handle. We’re heading to the theatre soon (hopefully with a quick stop at Harrods first for some shopping), and will grab a late bite to eat before coming back to the hotel to pack.

We will definitley need to come back to London sometime time, we only got to scratch the tiniest of surfaces here and there is much more I would like to see.

Tomorrow, we head to Paris!

Today Chris went home to the motherland. No, I don’t mean Ireland, I mean he went home to the land of the perfect pint. He went to the Guinness Storehouse to see how his favorite beverage is made.

See the giddy excitement as Chris arrives on the premises.

Chris gets schooled on the health benefits of Guinness.

At the gravity bar, we each got a perfectly poured pint. Note the shamrock froth, and Chris’ greedy little hands impatiently reaching for his long-awaited Guinness.

I personally preferred the view of Dublin over the Guinness. You could see the city at 360° - an amazing view.

We took in the Police concert last night –it was hilarious to see our fellow concert goers in the crowd of 50,000. Men in suits arm-in-arm swaying to the music and singing at the top of their lungs and a family of four, a son around 12 rocking out with his beer drinking older brother, probably 15, and two hip parents. It was an interesting sight.

After the concert, we hit a few pubs and ended the night with a taste of what was to come as we stopped in an Irish pub and listened to Johnny Cash and Lynyrd Skynyrd.

Today we landed in Dublin, and it was warm and sunny — very unusual for this part of the world. We took a long walk around the city center, through Trinity College and then lingering at the picturesque Saint Stephens Green park. We watched the ducks and little children rolling around gorgeous, bright flowers and the greenest grass I have ever seen. Now its about 10:30 pm and we are off to a corner pub for some dinner. Tomorrow, we’ll travel to Ennis and I learn more about my married namesake!

An amazing sight — Blue skies!!!

Hello all! We made it safe and sound. We had a great flight — we had enough points on our Amex card to fly first class. That was a first for both of us. Wow, I could SO get used to that! It was very nice. They constantly fed us, and we were able to stretch out, recline and get a little bit of rest before landing. Our flight arrived an hour early, and it was still dark we we got to the airport.

Veronica and Maarten were there to pick us up. It was great to see them! We just got up from a short nap and are about to head into the city. Its about 60 degrees and overcast here. Tonight, we’ll see the Police play a concert. Tomorrow, we will head off to Dublin for three days.