video!

HERE IS A VIDEO MICHELLE MADE OF OUR TRAVELS.

CLICK THE LINK AND ENJOY ! 

http://www.youtube.com/user/MsMichelleErin#p/a/u/0/xmXDwWnl8p0

London and Dublin

^ Front of the Guinness Factory! Dublin, Ireland.
^7th floor of Guinness Factory. Gravity Bar. Dublin, Ireland.
^ Taste test of Guinness Beer. Dublin, Ireland.
^ Floor map of the Guinness Factory. Dublin, Ireland.
^ Tea in Dublin, Ireland.
^ Pouring my own pint! Dublin, Ireland.
^ On the Double-decker bus tour. Dublin, Ireland.
^ Dublin, Ireland.
             ^ Me in Notting Hill, wearing my scarf I just crocheted on the plane! London, England.
                    ^ Hugh Grant's signature in an old, quaint bookstore. Notting Hill, London, England.
                             ^ My first real burrito in 6 months! Chipolte! London, England.
                                ^ Real tea in Notting Hill, London, England.
                                    ^ High Tea in London, England.
^ Live performance in London, England. Katie, Me, and Michelle.
^ The old bookstore in Notting Hill, London, England. I loved it!!!

^ Notting Hill sign.

Over my semester break, I went to London and Dublin!!! This break was absolutely amazing! 

London:

I was in London for 5 days. I went with Michelle, Katie, and Travis. Our hotel room was tiny, but we barely spent any time there. On the first day, we got there around 8pm so we just went to a bar for a drink and then went to our hotel to sleep. On the second day, we explored all around Buckingham Palace area. I saw all this last time I was there, but it was good to see it again. We walked all around and then for dinner I ate Cottage Pie. To me, it tasted exactly like Shepards Pie- yum! Then on Valentines day, we went to Notting Hill. Notting Hill was SO cute! It looks just like it does in the movie. We even went to a cool old bookstore where Hugh Grant wrote his autograph in the window. The tea I drank here was delicious and it was served to me with actual tea leaves! It was definitely authentic. Then for lunch we went to the Soho area and ate Chinese food. We ate at a place called Wok to Walk. It was reaaaalllllyyy goood! Then at night we went to a live performance of Chicago. It was excellent and just the perfect way to end the night. The next day, we shopped around a lot and I bought a pair of Oxford shoes on Oxford Street. We went to High Tea at 5 and it was a great experience. We had Earl Gray tea, 4 little finger sandwiches (egg, ham & mustard, salmon, and cucumber), scones with clotted cream & jam, and TWO desserts! Yes two. A slice of cake, and a cupcake. All this food was so overwhelming, but so delicious. I don't understand how those people have High Tea, and then dinner. I was stuffed!!! On our last day, we slept in and then left to catch our flight to Dublin.

Dublin:

I finally made it to Ireland! I honestly didn't think it was in the cards during my year here, but I made it happen! Well, we arrived in Dublin and got a taxi to our hotel. Our taxi driver was the cutest old man. When we told him we were from California, he started singing California Girls by the Beach Boys. It was so funny. It was a 20min ride and he talked the entire time. For some reason he thought it was so funny that Americans say "gasoline" haha. We got to our hotel, and it was honestly the best hotel I have stayed at so far in my year abroad! It was HUGE! It had a really nice lobby, a restaurant, and a club with 3 bars! Our room was amazing and the beds were so soft and cozy. I instantly jumped in my bed and took a nap. After I woke up, we went to dinner at a pub. We ordered a beer from Galway called the Galway Hooker. It was delicious. It tasted really buttery. I ordered beef stew and it reminded me of Nanny's stew back home. Yuuuum! The next day, we signed up for a double-decker bus tour. This tour took us all around Dublin. One of the stops was the Guinness Factory. We went inside and I was amazed. It was seven floors high and it was so interesting to find out how the beer is made. At the 6th floor, there was a lesson on how to pour the perfect pint. After that, we all got to pour our own glass. This was my first Guinness ever and I actually really enjoyed it. Everyone told me I wouldn't like it because it is so heavy, but I liked it! We brought them up with us to the 7th floor called the Gravity Bar. This bar gave us a 360degree view of dublin! It was soooo cool !! After, we went to dinner at another pub called O'neills. Here I ordered Traditional Irish stew. This had lamb in it! I was so excited because I haven't had lamb in forever. It definitely is now one of my favorite meals! It was soooo good. The next day I bought a Claddagh ring! I bought it from a man who had a cart full of jewelry. The man was so nice and talked to us forever. I found a really cute, small, dainty ring. It was exactly what I was looking for. As we were walking away from him, he called out to us, "Girls, I hope the rings bring you luck". It was so cute. But then, we unfortunately had to leave. I REALLY did not want to leave Dublin. I wish I could have gotten a few more days there. But I am so glad I got to go visit Dublin!!!