Ballyseede Castle - The Inside

Just a few pics of Ballyseede Castle from the inside, they seriously don't do the place justice you really need to see this for yourself.

Ballyseede Castle

Back to our holiday. Whilst we were in Ireland we were lucky enough to stay 2 nights at Ballyseede Castle. It was gorgeous and if you ever find yourself in Tralee (in the South West of Ireland) you must stay there. Our room was in the round, tower-like, part of the castle and it was big and awesome. The castle has it's own resident ghost, Hilda, but we didn't get to see her, I think all the noise of a 3 year old probably kept her clear of our room. The grounds were gorgeous, it was raining the whole time we were there and we were away sight-seeing during the days anyway so we didn't get to really explore them too much. Next time we go back we will make sure we stay longer and hopefully get to 'take tea in the garden'. To see more of Ballyseede Castle go to this link http://www.ballyseedecastle.com/

First 4D Scan

Yesterday we had our 31week OBGYN visit. We got lucky because he has recently aquired his own 4D scanning machine so now whenever we go for our visits (which are fornightly for the next month and then weekly) we will be getting 4D scans - at no extra cost!

Our Doc is really good and takes the time to try and get the best image that he can for us. This is a print out of the scan that we had yesterday. Bub seems to really like touching it's face and so it was hard to get a good look but this one seems to be pretty good. Watch this space for more 4D pictures.

Bored in the car

Things were a little quiet in the back seat - this could have meant that the little man was sleeping (wishful thinking) or that he was up to mischief. It was a rainy day and then we see what we thought was lightning (ok maybe it was just me) then we hear giggling from the back seat. I turn around and Riley says to me "Take a look at this mummy, it's sooo funny". So he hands me his camera and I see some pics that he has just taken......of himself. They were pretty funny. Most of them were of things like his leg, foot, shoe or the backs of mine and Brad's heads. A couple of times we got in on the act with him and clowned around a bit too (most of these pics will NEVER be published of course).

Coffee and Cake at Lynch's Cafe

A short stroll from Lynch's Castle in Galway and before you reach Elle's Cafe (I took this pic for you Ellebelle) is Lynch's Cafe. We couldn't help but stop there for a snack.

Lynch's Castle - Galway

Although this one is more impressive than the last (mostly because it actually has all 4 sides and a roof) it was still a bit disappointing as it has been turned into a bank and they have only dedicated the entranceway to the history of the castle. The 3rd picture is of the Lynch Family crest. The fireplace was interesting though because it was custom that when two people married a fireplace was erected in honour of the marriage and beared both families crests and the initials of the newly married couple. An interesting custom, can you imagine how expensive this would be in todays climate of divorces? Riley sat in one of the bay windows trying to take a photo of a guy dressed in a banana suit and getting angry with passers-by who were getting in the way of his shot.

Lynch's Castle - The first one.....

So not so impressive, granted but getting there was interesting. Turns out the remains are on private property (something I didn't see on the website that I looked at before we left) and guarded by a BULL. So after you go through the gates (which my with my big belly only just fit through) you have to walk up a very long path keeping look out for that bull. It was raining that day too (as it did most days we were in Ireland) but we were determined that we were not to have come this far and not at least get a pic. No sign of that bull the whole time we were there but the whole herd of cattle were very interested in us and watched us very intently.

Ireland!!

Just a few shots touring around Ireland. The first one is of the pub that we had dinner in on the first night that we were in Ireland. We had a really yummy traditional Irish dinner and Brad enjoyed his first Guinness of the trip. The atmosphere in Ireland is really lovely and relaxed, so different to South Africa that's for sure!

London - Beatles Style

I nearly forgot on our last day in London we paid a visit to Abbey Road and also this apparently 'famous' Beatles cafe that has all this great memorabillia etc. The cafe was hilarious as it was nothing more than a hole in the wall with a few t-shirts, fridge magnets etc inside a about 4 tables outside (no room inside for even 1 table). So we ordered ourselves a hot chocolate and just laughed at the whole thing. Then we walked down the block to see the famous Abbey Road crossing and recording studios. A bit disappointing there too but we took some pics anyways just to say that we have been there.

Stonehenge

On the way from London to Cardiff (in Wales) we detoured and stopped off at Stonehenge. See an earlier post for details. I mentioned that Riley's pics of Stonehenge (or Stonehedge if you listen to Riley's version) were interesting as he was more interested in the sheep in the neighbouring paddock so I have included just one of his many 'sheep pics'.

Namco World - Riley and Declan Reunion

It's funny how things happen. Riley's bestest friend in the whole wide world when we were in Townsville was Declan. I was chatting online to my good friend Tash (who I miss tonnes) and is Declan's mum just the week before we left on holidays and she told me that Declan and his dad Darren were heading to London and would be there at the same time as us!!

I couldn't let the chance of a reunion after almost a year apart go by so I contacted Darren and we arranged to get the boys together at Namco World (a big 3 level game parlour). We kept it secret from the boys and the looks on their faces was priceless, they both had the biggest grins and both went all shy. It wasn't long though (about a minute and a half) before they were running around wreaking havoc together like they have never been apart.

Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace and Big Ben

After we finished at London Tower we headed off on a bit of a walk and ended up at Westminster Abbey, it was so impressive and just beautiful. We sat or layed on the grass in front of it for a bit and just looked up at it whilst Riley decided that it would be fun to chase the pigeons around the park. On the way to Westminster Abbey we saw Big Ben and just had to take a couple of pics, this pic of Big Ben is one of Riley's, not bad eh?

After Westminster Abbey we took a stroll over to Buckingham Palace. I found it to be not so impressive as far as the building itself went and there was too much gold everywhere, obviously the Queen hasn't heard that "less is more". In the summer months they only do the changing of the guard every two days and turns out the change-over had been earlier that day (we arrived at about 6pm) so we decided to go back in two days time to see it. BIG MISTAKE!! Everyone in London had the same idea I am sure. We arrived late (of course) and so there was already 1.5 million people there (maybe a slight exaggeration but that's how it felt at the time). So we got to listen to some nice music whilst being thrown around by the crowd and Brad held the video camera up high and caught a bit on camera but still not the same as actually seeing it.

This was probably our biggest day of the whole holiday and we ended it with a double decker bus ride home which really impressed Riley although it was about 8pm by the time we were on the bus and he just crashed. A really nice young girl saw that he was really excited to be on the top of a double decker bus and gave up her front row seat for him too so he had the best view - until he fell asleep that was.

London Tower

London Tower was a big day but very interesting and fun too. The history around the Tower is amazing, I only wish that we had had more time to really read into it. Stopping to read hundreds of panels is not a fun idea to a 3 year old. The pic of Brad and I was taken by our own little man. He really enjoyed having his own camera for the trip (ok so it's not exactly his but we let him use our small camera throughout the holiday). He took some great pics and his perspective on things was very interesting. He is getting quite good at taking pics and I think that he will really enjoy the camera that we have bought for him as a gift from the new bub when it arrives (which at this point is not soon enough!!). Even though we did not do a tour of Tower Bridge we still thought it was impressive enough to take a photo of so I have included one of those in here too.

Having Fun

No pictures today as we have stopped at an internet cafe whilst we wait for our load of washing to finish. We haven't had access to use the internet on our own computer since we left London and the internet in the rooms we have had has been so expensive that we decided to wait so we have not been able to update anything until now.

We left London on Friday morning, picked up a hire car and hit the road for Wales. We stopped off at Stone Henge (or Stone Hedge if you listen to Riley) along the way and managed to make it in the gate just 10 minutes before closing time, we pretty well ran around the thing snapping pics along the way. Some of Riley's pics are quite interesting especially seeing as how he was more interested in the sheep in the neighbouring paddock. We staying in Wales on Friday and Saturday night. Wales was lovely and we spent a good deal of Saturday walking around the ruins of an old castle. It is so awesome to see the scale of the structure and to imagine what life would have been like in those times.

We left Wales on Sunday morning and hit the road for Heathrow airport where we caught a quick flight (about 45mins) to Dublin, Ireland. When we arrived we fronted to the hire car desk only to be told our booking had been cancelled and they could not hire us any cars. Hmmmmm didn't go down too well. Luckily the lady behind the counter looked into things a bit better for us and found that the booking had been moved to another company and she arranged for the voucher to be faxed to them. Phew, we were on our way again.

In Dublin, on Sunday night, we enjoyed a traditional Irish dinner and Brad got his fill of Guiness too (secretly I am sure he would have loved to have had more.....). The next morning was Brad's birthday and we were on the road for Gallway. We made a lot of stops along the way, including one to Summerhill where we checked out the last remains of Lynch's Castle. Not a lot to see especially seeing as how it was raining and we had to trespass onto private property and brave a 'guard bull' to get there but we managed to get a couple of pics. Yes father dearest you are welcome!

We arrived in Gallway to our B&B quite late in the evening (which is easy to do when at 8:45pm you are still needing your sunglasses to drive!) and so the next morning, Tuesday, after breakfast we headed into the town centre to see the next Lynch's Castle. This one is in much better shape and there were no bulls to speak of to have to get past, although it is now a bank so the bull reference could still be used when speaking of bank charges I suppose..... We almost got locked in the bank as they were doing a money transfer (at around lunch time - go figure.....). We took a heap of pics and a bit of video and then headed across the road to Lynch's Cafe for a coffee and some cake. Then on to Lynch's Window which was the sad scene of a hanging of a young Lynch by his own father who was the Mayor and magistrate of Gallway at the time. The very short version of the story is that the young Lynch had jealously murdered a man that he thought was trying to muscle in on his woman and then confessed the murder to his father. He went to trial and his father, having no choice, executed him for the crime.

Today we are heading to Kerry to stay at Ballyseede Castle (once our washing is done of course). We will update and hopefully add some pics as soon as we can.

We've Arrived In London

So after a long trip and a bit of a rough start (we got lost on the way to the long term car storage in Joburg) we have finally arrived for the first leg of our holiday. The flight on Air France was 10 hours but went really quickly as we travlled through the night and we all managed to get some sort of rest. We first landed in Paris for a change-over of flight on to London. We arrived in London and had to quickly learn our way through the subway system to get to our Hotel. Looking back this was easier than it felt at the time (tired toddler, tired pregnant woman, lots of luggage and no real clue as to where to go etc).



One of the first things we did when we arrived was to contact Aunty Naomi and work out a time to go and visit her at work. It has been at least a year since we last saw her so it was really nice to catch up. Riley was really excited to see her, although you would not know it at the time as he went all shy and hid behind my legs. Of course spoiling him with a present was a good ice-breaker too. Way to go Aunty Naomi!





Riley was really excited to see all the Double-Decker buses and 'Supernanny' cars (that would be the taxis) driving around the place so on the walk over to Naomi's office we stopped off and took some touristy type photos. We were really lucky to see a Double-Decker bus parked at a bus stop with no passengers and so we asked the driver if he would mind us taking a pic, he was really accommodating and even took a pic of us together (this is the first pic).








We are off now to explore London on some tours today so watch this space for more updates!!!