GM Kids Abroad: Leaving Ireland and travelling England

Well Hi again. Its me, Keewee and I have been doing a lot of traveling since I last talked to you

After returning from Northern Ireland we decided to go and explore some more in Dublin

The main Post office still has bullet holes from the Uprising in 1916

Daniel O'Connell was a popular politician of the time of the uprising and is remembered here with this statue which sits quite prominently in Dublin.

As we explored we found other interesting buildings. This is named Poets Corner and has lines of poetry and sayings made by famous people over the years.

Here is another view of the river Liffey

We walked down narrow streets

along cobbled roads

in both sunshine and rain. In Ireland it rains through the winter and has some sunshine and in Summer it is sunny and has some rain. I am starting to think there are equal portions of both as we always needed our coats when we went out as the rain was nearly always about to happen. And if it did then the sunshine was always just about to appear again suggesting we should remove our coats and should you do so then ............. you guessed, it rained again!

So the easiest thing to do when waiting for the rain to stop is have lunch

In an Irish Pub of course!

And then we set off again to find the Dublin Castle. This is now the headquarters of the Garda . That is the Irish name for their Police Officers.

I seem to think I know these people. Martin and Dallas I believe.


and just like at home we still had to buy groceries. Can you see the price of their milk. Remember this is Euro's and for New Zealanders each Euro is roughly $2.

Unfortunately our time in Ireland has to come to an end and we are sad to leave this land behind. We have not yet found a shamrock or a leprechaun. maybe I will search here again if I can ever come back to this Emerald Island

Ireland slips away behind the ship as the children explore the decks outside

Some boats are faster than ours when making the crossing. This one passed us and will already be leaving port again by the time we get there

Chance does not mind our boat being slower as he can practice his driving skills.

And Martin is racing trucks hard out.

but I don't mind relaxing with the girls having a drink at the tables.

At last the coast of Wales comes into view and we sail past Holyhead. Can you see the bridge leading to the lighthouse in the distance?

The weather was quite wet as we traveled North on the train

We had to change trains several times and it took all day to travel to Newcastle

We traveled past Nuclear Power Stations in the distance

We took the train up to Newcastle where we hired a car and went for a drive

The landscape altered and we had great views across the valleys to the far hills

The streets were still narrow, cars could park on any side and in this photo the houses just seemed to climb the hill in front of us.

We drove over bridges


We drove under bridges

There were lots of tall buildings in Newcastle. Pigeons love to nest on tall buildings. Can you see all the pigeon nests?

Pigeons also like to nest under bridges and lots of pigeons make lots of 'Pigeon Poo' and it is REALLY smelly!

The River Tyne gives Newcastle it's true name Newcastle Upon Tyne. On the far side of the Tyne is the Opera House

This is the new Millennium bridge that crosses the Tyne

We walked across it. It can lift up sideways to allow ships to pass underneath

At night it is lit by lights and is lifted regularly for people to see what it looks like when raised

Churches and their steeples are frequently found and the stonework is always impressive

Down one street we found an electric car plugged into a charger. We don't see many of these in New Zealand

Once again we are back on the Train. This time heading for York

The fields

and towns flash by

Castles are seen in the distance

Its good to get somewhere to just spread out and relax again!

This is the garden at our place in York

When we went for a walk toward the river we found this sign. Is this where you can teach cars to dive in the River I wonder?

We walked alongside the River Ouse.

This is a flood gate for the River Foss. When the Ouse is flooding the gate is closed and it stops the water flooding back into the river Foss.

Narrow Boats are tied up alongside the Banks. People live on these year after year. Others are rented out for tourists to spend time traveling the rivers and canals of England

Clifford Tower forms part of the York Castle and sits on a hill near the river

Double decker boats take tourists on cruises up and down the river.

So we took a ride to see the town from the river

We saw other boats on the river to. This name seems familiar.

Groups of Narrow Boats moored together..

It must be fun to holiday like this

Look at the way these are painted!

All that is left of a fortified castle after being attacked many times in history

This was the merchants guild hall which was bombed with Incendiary bombs in the 2nd World War

See the scorch marks from the flames still etched on the walls. They have been wiped clean further down by high floods on the river Ouse.

This local Pub often gets flooded and when this happens the tradition is that the owner serves drinks even if the patrons canoe in through the windows! Its name ?

Guess!

In the streets of York you can see many bendy buses

The walls of ancient York can still be seen in many places

We are off to see the National Rail Museum.

Dallas, Chance and Martin inspect the wheels of a steam locomotive

This is the largest collection of steam trains in the world. Some are painted in gleaming paintwork

This was the fastest steam train in the world!

Chance helped to show that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction . When the air came out of the balloon, the balloon shot into the air. Can you see the long balloon above Chance?

Checking the controls of a steam locomotive.

A huge steam Locomotive. Can you see Chance by the wheels?

The road train took us from the Rail Museum to the York Minster.

We had to stop at the lights just like the cars and buses.

The Minster is a large Cathedral

Even though it is built of strong stone the rear of the Minster can be seen surrounded by scaffolding as repairs to the years of weather damage are being undertaken. The area in the front has already been restored