As I mentioned a few weeks ago, my girlfriend and I just had a wonderful vacation (or holiday as they would say) in Europe. Specifically we stopped in Ireland, Scotland, England, and popped over to France for a couple nights. Despite the fact that we were moving around a lot, it was overall a very relaxing trip and it felt like it took a whole month rather than just two weeks.
I don’t want to do a full play by play of everything that happened, since that would be tedious for everyone. I’m just going to focus on the things that I found awesome in each city we visited, and general impressions about each place we went. Let’s hit it!
Dublin
I’d been to Ireland before on a previous trip in 2006, but we didn’t do very much in Dublin that time around, so I wanted to make sure we got the full experience this time. It wasn’t the best of times for me since I managed to get a nasty bug either at PAX or on the plane ride over, so I was having a lot of trouble sleeping. Despite that, we had an great time there.
We visited most of the obvious spots. Trinity College for the Book of Kells and Old Library (still stunning), Dublin Castle, Guinness Storehouse, and the Old Jameson Distillery to name the best ones. The one thing that really stood out to me about the Guinness Storehouse was simply how big it was. They put a ridiculous amount of money into making a very nice experience for visitors, way more than any other brewery I’ve been to. I ended up having a lot of Guinness in Dublin despite my illness because it is so much better than in the states. Touring the Jameson distillery was also great. One other thing I noticed between the two is that Jameson is obviously going for the higher end consumers while Guinness has stuff for everyone. I guess Jameson figures that their clientele are more sophisticated, which is probably true overall.
The thing that surprised me most about Dublin though was that the food was a lot better than I expected it to be. It was certainly better overall than what we had in Scotland and England, and was cheaper to boot. And it wasn’t just the native food, they had excellent Italian and Mexican food as well.
Scotland
In Scotland we spent a full day in Glasgow, a day travelling up to Loch Ness and Inverness, and a full day in Edinburgh. The highlight for me in Glasgow was absolutely the Necropolis. In fact, it is in my top three things for the entire trip. That graveyard is unlike anything I’ve ever seen, the sheer size of the place and most of the tombs and tombstones are elaborate and unique. It really is breathtaking. The cathedral nearby is also pretty cool, but it pales in comparison.
The trip up to Loch Ness and down to Edinburgh was kind of funny because it felt almost exactly like driving in Washington. The road up to Loch Ness was like driving on Highway 2 through the mountains, while going to Edinburgh was like using I-90. There was only one section where this wasn’t true, and that was during the stretch when we first got into the highlands, and I can definitely say that that was unlike anywhere else I’ve been. My girlfriend said that it felt like another planet, and I fully agree. Loch Ness itself wasn’t anything particularly interesting, but stopping by Urquhart Castle on the way was cool. Inverness on the other hand was pretty lame.
Luckily Edinburgh was there to make things cool again. If we were to go back to Scotland, I think it would be to just spend more time in Edinburgh. There is so much to do there that we didn’t have time to do having only one day. The zoo they have there is pretty good, especially their famous penguins (including the parade, where penguins will walk around outside their cage, and yes, it is just as adorable as the videos you will find online). Edinburgh Castle in the middle of the city is also very impressive. It’s the only castle in the UK I’ve been to that feels like an actual fortress (the only one that comes close is the Tower of London).
London
I distinctly remember back in 2006, when I visited London for the first time, I decided that if I didn’t live in Seattle, London would be my second choice. This trip pretty much confirmed that. It is still my favorite city to visit. I love the culture, I love the history, I love the transportation options, and I like that the location is much closer to other places I would love to spend more time in.
This trip had a couple repeats and a couple new things. Westminster Abbey is still my favorite church, and it ranked in my top three things for the trip, which is impressive since I already knew how awesome it was. It just blew me away again. The Tower of London was also a fun revisit. As far as new things go, Buckingham Palace is one of the most incredible buildings I’ve ever seen. I expected it to be lavish, but it managed to completely blow away my expectations with its splendor. It puts every other castle I’ve seen to shame. The other new thing was a quick trip to the British Museum, and like Buckingham, I was floored with how awesome the building is. I loved how every room felt like it was designed specifically for the exhibit that it contained (which may be the case, I didn’t really look into it). I was also surprised at how many things weren’t being protected by glass, they just trust people to leave them alone, even things that are millennia old.
The other thing we did that was worth noting was a visit to one of Gordon Ramsay’s restaurants. I’ve had fancy meals before but nothing quite like this one. It shows off how meals like that really are a different experience from simply eating to fill oneself. And this wasn’t even the flagship restaurant. We will try to get to that one next time.
Paris
Paris ended up being the most difficult part of the journey for multiple reasons. One, obviously, the language barrier was hard to get over. My attempt at learning French for the trip proved to be mostly futile. Two, being near the end of our trip, we were exhausted. And three, since we only had a day and a half, we tried to pack in as much as we could, which resulted in us not having a lot of time to get food, which is one of the main reasons to go there in the first place.
We did some of the obvious things like visiting the Eiffel Tower, the Arc de Triomphe, and Notre Dame. What we did not expect was that Notre Dame was actually kind of bland compared to some of the other churches we’d seen. That became even more clear after we visited Sacre Coeur. That church is the most beautiful one I’ve ever been to. Not the most interesting, not by a long shot, but without a doubt the most beautiful.
The last thing we did on the trip was see the show at Moulin Rouge. This also got into my top three for the trip, it was a blast. A lot of guys like that show simply because of the amount of topless girls, but I was really impressed with the stunt work they did. I wasn’t expecting there to be any at all, but what they did was outstanding and unique. The ventriloquist during the break was also a joy to watch. Seriously, you can’t beat doing an act with an actual dog that opens its mouth on command.
Random Observations
- Since we had some places to go to in the UK that are hard to get to with public transportation, I had my first experience driving over there. It took about three days to get the hang of it, but once I did, I found it surprisingly relaxing and fun. I enjoyed it more than I normally enjoy driving in the states.
- Following up on that, I absolutely love the way they’ve done their roads over there. Roundabouts are great no matter what anyone else says. This trip proved to me that freeways with anything less than 3 lanes are awful (seriously, having that extra lane makes a huge difference). I also love how big and descriptive their signs are. Every sign tells you everything you need to know about what’s coming up, and they repeat it several times to make sure you got it. Way more useful than the signs we have here.
- The only thing that sucked about driving was that our rental car had no acceleration at all. Going on the freeway, if we started going up an incline at all, the car would just start to slow down, no matter how much gas I gave it. I had to downshift a lot, even on freeways.
- The people in Dublin walk a lot faster than anywhere else we visited. They also tended to be the most brazen when it came to jaywalking, though it was common everywhere.
- While driving in England was pleasant, I would never want to drive in Dublin or Paris. Good lord those people are crazy.
- London is unparalleled when it comes to the number of buses you see driving around. Seriously, I’m pretty sure they count for 60% of the total cars on the road there. Taxis account for 35%. The rest are delivery trucks and the occasional personal car.
- Paris really is as dirty as people say it is. The smells of urine and BO are omnipresent.
- I suppose it shouldn’t have surprised me that much, but the first thing I noticed when getting to Paris is how much more diverse it is compared to London (and most places I’ve been to in the US for that matter). The rest of the UK I can understand being mostly white, but I figured London would be more diverse. It doesn’t hold a candle to Paris.
- While I can appreciate that the Paris subways are easier to navigate and their trains move much quicker, I still like the Underground of London better. Mostly because it’s cleaner.
- I also found it interesting just how many people don’t pay to use the Paris subway. Almost every time we went went in or out, we would see someone jumping the turnstile or going in through the exit door. And no one seemed to care.
- Trips like this make me really wish that Seattle had the same kind of density that every city has over there. Not just in people, but in shops and restaurants/cafes. It was super convenient to have small markets everywhere. And because there are so many places to eat, we almost never had to wait at any restaurant. There were no lines anywhere, which makes sense. If a place is full, you just go down the street to the next place. That would be awesome to have here.
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Overall it was a great trip, probably my favorite vacation yet. Absolutely cannot wait to go again next year. Next week I will be getting back to writing about topics, starting with my views on privacy and where it is going. See you next time!