Fall Break part 2

Hello from somewhere in Europe! This week was spent exploring Luxembourg City, London, and Ireland. Fall break was in full swing this week with mandatory travel for the whole week. My travel group of four started fall break in Paris, France moving on to Luxembourg, Luxembourg the night of October 30. I left off last week stating that we arrived at our hostel on Sunday night. We got up fairly early on Monday morning to make the most of our day in Luxembourg. We started with breakfast at the hostel and then made our own walking tour to see the sites of the city. We visited churches, the royal place, old medieval forts, and walked around the city stopping at different shops and things we saw along the road. We wrapped up our time in Luxembourg eating some traditional dishes at a local restaurant. We then headed to the airport to catch our flight to London. We arrived in London around 5:30 pm and headed into the city on a train. We then bought an Oyster card so we would be able to use the subway. We arrived at our hostel around 9, checked in and headed out again in search of food. We ended up eating a fast-food chicken place and headed to bed.

We took our time on Tuesday morning heading into town around lunch. We had lunch at a local pub where I got fish and chips. We then headed to the Natural History and Science Museums as they were free, and we were not sure what we wanted to do that day. We ended up spending way more time there then we thought we would and ended up leaving right a the last one closed. We then headed out in search of another pub to have dinner and discovered that the English are not like Italians (they like to eat early). We ended up getting a quick meal at a chain restaurant that is only in the British Isles. We headed back to the hostel and went to bed.

On Wednesday we headed back into the city for a Harry Potter themed walking tour. We got to see places where they filmed the movies and spots that inspired the books. After the tour we got lunch at another pub and made our own walking tour of the city. We visited Buckingham Place, Westminster Abbey, and Big Ben. We grabbed a quick supper at McDonalds before going to musicals. I went to Hamilton while the others in my group went to different musicals. After our musicals we headed back to the hostel and went to bed.

Thursday was my birthday as well as our flight to Dublin, Ireland. We headed to the airport around 9 am and got to Dublin around noon. We grabbed lunch at an Irish pub before heading to the hostel. After checking in we relaxed for a while and then played the card game UNO. That night we went out to eat at another pub where we played some more uno. On Friday we were joined by some more UMARY students who traveled to Dublin. We headed out to the Guinness Storehouse for a tour. We got to learn how the beer is made, how to properly taste it, and even got a free pint and access to the Skyline lounge. After the tour and lunch, we headed on a short walking tour and quickly realized why everyone said Dublin was expensive, everything cost money to get into. We still did our walking tour around the city taking in the sites. That night we went back to a pub that we went to on the first day for supper and played cards. We celebrated my birthday on the floor of the hostel dorm later that night with cheesecake we bought at a Chinese Restaurant.

We woke up early on Saturday to catch a bus to Galway, a city on the Atlantic side of Ireland. It was a three-hour bus ride and we arrived in Galway around 9 and started exploring the city. We visited a few churches, a local farmers market and many different shops. We got lunch at a place that the bartender at the Guinness Storehouse had recommended, the shop was declared the best fish and chips place by the Soviet Union and even has a plaque stating it. After lunch we walked along the water and went on a short walk out to Mutton Island where Galway’s water treatment plant is. After our walk we headed back to the bus station to head back to Dublin. After another three hours we got to Dublin and grabbed a quick dinner and headed back to the hostel to pack. We left early on Sunday so we would have time to recoup before the upcoming week.

Ciao, Ann