EuroGreg (and Mike) return back to the US

It's 11PM in Ireland right now, but only 5PM here. I'm starting to get tired... the sunlight is helping me stay awake for now. Mike and I landed at ORD at 12:35PM, just like the schedule said it would. Amazing. And EuroGreg has his car back from the shop, after giving them lots of money. Very exciting.

Just like that, we're back from two weeks of giving the people of Western Europe a run for their money. Big cliffs, castles built on huge "rocks", and some traditional Irish music in a good old Irish pub to round out the trip. Now that we're back, it will be easier to get photos out to everyone (but not ALL the photos!) Thanks for reading along during the trip. Depending on how we feel, there may be more blog entries finalizing the time in Europe. Otherwise, until next time EuroGreg makes his way back......

To Ireland, Land of the Green (or so EuroGreg is told...)

Writer: EuroGreg

So, we went from Edinburgh to Dublin, drove to Belfast and toured the country of Northern Ireland. They are also based on the British pound, which means we're now poor :) That country has been through a lot of ... stuff. We did a black cab tour which takes you around Belfast and talks about the political turmoil in the city. There were some murals that reflected this as well. Some pics available at Mike's Flickr account (link below.)

We also saw the Rope Bridge and Giant's Causeway - two separate places. Very cool places along the northern coast. We drove ALL the way to Galway from there. A 5 hour drive through the winding roads of Ireland. We're starting to get used to driving on the left side of the road and the right side of the car. Better watch out. Mike and I may just keep up that habit back in Illinois!

We're writing this blog entry from Galway, which has a hostel with computers that aren't overly restricted and actually available for use. Mike has carefully selected some of his photos to upload for your viewing pleasure. Tomatina photos will unfortunately need to wait until our return to be seen by the public. Check out the link below for more stuff from Scotland, including the Highland Games, and now Ireland.

I can't believe we'll back so soon. Time really flies when you tour the world. Today, we check out more than just the bars of Galway (like last night!) and then off to see the Cliffs of Moher, where the world just drops off into the ocean. Until next time...

More pictures!

Edinburgh and beyond...

Writer: EuroGreg

Edinburgh is proving to be an interesting and generally cool city. The hostel that we're staying at here is actually a converted church! And for only £12.50/night, it's coolness factor goes up even more. Today we've checked out some of the famous streets such as the Royal Mile and Princes Street. Lots of shopping and Scottish "stuff" stores. Edinburgh Castle was not as great as we had hoped for. While OK and on top o the highest point in the city, it was a little too over commercialized for our tastes. Everywhere you turned, there was another shop to buy souvenirs. That, and most of the building was closed off or converted into shops or a museum where you couldn't take pictures. The crown jewels of Scotland was cool, though.

Tonight, they are having fireworks to end a month-long festival. Should be pretty good. Tomorrow, more of this city and then off to Ireland for the rest of the week.

Things of note:

- The conversion rate for USD to British Pound: Just over 2:1
- The conversion rate for USB to Euro: approx. 1.3:1
- Mullets never left Europe
- They love older American music
- I love bagpipe music
- While maybe not my favorite part of the trip, Tomatina was fun for me and I was NOT scared. (Too many people for my taste.) ^_^

Spain to Scotland

We finished our trip in Spain in Alacante. Not the nicest place we've been, but it's not bad once you get to the port. Greg met some Australian freak at a church.....something about not taking pictures because 'this isn't f'ing China' (really). Aside from that not much else happened in Alacante. They also have a fantastic airport. We arrived in Glasgow about 1 am after geting through customs so not much to tell for night 1. Friday we spent driving on the wrong side of the road, having an 'all day breakfast' which we think is meant to fill you up ALL DAY. It has lots o stuff, bacon, eggs, sausage, bread, beans, fried toast. Oh my god, you have to try fried toast. We did a walking tour of Glasgow, saw some great buildings, the best being Glasgow Cathedral. We then headed on through Stirling with a stop at Stirling Castle, again a great place. The highlight of the trip though was about 3 hours north in Braemar, which is the home of Braemar Gathering, the old Scottish games. We actually found a hotel right in the middle of town, not cheap but it was more than we expected. Most everything was closed when we arrived, so we had dinner at the Take Away - by far the greasiest place ever - but oh soooo good. The games were Saturday, with a special appearance by the Queen herself. One of the most amazing parts of the day were the bagpipers. They were non-stop, and at one point there were several bands on the floor at the same time, we're guessing 250-300 people total. We have lots of pics and video, however we can't upload anything on this computer. We left the games and drove to Edinburgh where we'll finish out our stay in Scotland. Monday we're off to Ireland. But for now we're out of time so we'll leave it here. Hopeully have more pics and video to upload in the next couple of days.

Mike (Greg says hi too)

Ida Y Vuelta de la Tomatina

From Mike:

(He wanted to!)

This is the part of the trip that Greg enjoyed least. The day started at 1:00 am, that's when we went to sleep. The day started again at 4:00 am, that's when we woke up to head to Tomatina. Thinking the train would be crowded early, we got an early start. Of course when we arrived, there were about 10 people at the train station. During out wait, we me Alana from New Zealand, who latched onto us for safety. The station began filling as the morning went on, and by 6:30 was getting crowded. 7:08 our train arrives and the shoving begins. I guess those bastards figured why get up early when you can shove your way onto the train. We got on the first train, and after an hour train ride we arrive in Bunol. 3 hours til the madness begins. After a long walk we make it to the city, already filled with lots of people. They were starting to grease the pole with about 5 inches of pig fat. Then they hung the pig. For about 2 hours, people climbed over one another to reach the top and cut down the pig, which of course starts Tomatina. Lots of people filled the street and it became hard to move. Mashalls sprayed the crowd with water cannons, the t-shirt fight started pretty soon after. I was lucky enough to make some new friends from Balencia (Valencia) who kindly tore my shirt off. Greg got scared so we decided to head for higher ground. That isn't as easy at it sounds. Squeezing though we get about half way there, then Greg makes some new friends who decide he needs to show off those muscles, so they rip his shirt too. Finally make it to high ground, and the pig gets cut loose - BRING ON THE TOMATOES! The cannon sounds and the trucks roll in. Tomotoes start flighting, people shoving, and more tomatoes fly. We found that higher ground meant few tomatoes, so for much of the hour we pushed and shoved with everyone else. Towards the end of the fight the streets opened up so we were able to make it down. The streets were filled with tomato slop which was easy to scoop up and throw at not so innocent bystanders. This was much more fun, and messy, than throwing whole tomatoes. Hitting people in the face with a pound of salsa is quite entertaining. This went on for about 20 minutes as we made our way through town. We made it threw town and showered under the hoses people had hanging off their balconies. Running out of time and there isn't much else to tell, so we'll leave it there. Tomatina is defintitely something to experience. We're leaving Valencia shortly, heading to Alacante and flying to Scotland tonight for the Highland Games. We'll write more when we have time.

Adios.

Tenemos fotos!

We have a few pics courtesy of Mike's Flickr account. It's something for now. More to come as time permits.

Pictures! WEEE!

we made it

the joys of foreign keyboards will strain this entry, but suffice to say we are here and we have not killed each other yet. we made it to barcelona this morning and have seen quite a bit so far. i will try to send pics at some point. btw, it is warm here. take care faithful blog readers. enjoy no capitals and no apostophres, since i cannot find them.

we made it to europe

I'm home! I'm sooooo tired. Sorry for the super-long delay in blog entries, but Internet access was limited and not always cheap enough to justify. I'll write more later or just tell people in person. But thanks to all my fans for reading my entries!

- EuroGreg