Pip pip!

The title is my favorite "British" phrase. I spent last week in London, England; Edinburgh, Scotland and Dublin, Ireland. It was pretty great although I have never spent so much time on transportation before.

Thursday night (the 1st of March), we (me and 3 other Nebraska girls) took 2 trains and ended up in Grenoble, France. We then spent the night in the lovely Grenoble train station. I'd give it 2 stars. A little cold, but around 430am the waiting room opened up which is much warmer. So anyway, we then took a bus to the airport (45 mins away) and then a plane to London. During our first three days in London, I saw Big Ben, Tower Bridge, Buckingham Palace and St. James Palace; went to the Tower of London, Westminster Abbey, British Museum and rode the London Eye. Tuesday, we took a bus to Windsor, a very cute town, and saw Windsor Palace.

Then that night, we took an overnight coach (bus) to Edinburgh. We went to Edinburgh Palace, a tartan mill and the National Gallery of Scotland then went on a ghost tour that night (supposedly Edinburgh is the most haunted city in the world...). The next day we went to St. Giles' Cathedral, did a lot of shopping and then flew to Dublin. The first day, we saw FIVE sights which was quite good for us. We went to Christ Church Cathedral, St. Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin Castle, Trinity College (it has the Book of Kells) and the National Gallery of Ireland. We had a nicer dinner than night and then went to a pub where I tried a Guinness since it's all the rage in Dublin... it was okay but beer's not really my thing.

We then flew back to Grenoble, took a bus back to the train station, and spent another night in the lovely train station. We got back to the dorms sometime after noon on Sunday. It was rather expensive as the British pound is worth nearly twice as much as the American dollar. We were relieved when we got back to the Euro in Dublin.

Now, I am back in school... not really enjoying it, just making it through. My tummy has not been so happy lately so that only makes it worse. Thankfully, only one more day of class! I hope those of you who are on spring break are enjoying it!

Much love,
Julianne

P.S. I posted my dorm address on the "about me" section of facebook and I hope to make a new facebook album of my vacay in the very near future.