The Adventures of Heidi and Amanda - London Eye

This is the London Eye. The huge Ferris Wheele takes you around in the pill-shapped things, taking 30 minutes. Because it was so clear we could see so much of London. It was so beautiful. The people we rode with were also a lot of fun.










The picture on the left is Heidi standing in front of the Parlament buildings and Big Ben. The one on the left is another high kick on the Eye. Seriously...funnest idea ever!










This is a pigeon that we saw on the Tube. He only had one foot...the other was a stump. But he kept on going...spreading disease and annoying tourists. I think that he is an example to us all!

The Adventures of Heidi and Amanda - Stonehenge & Bath

This is Stonehenge. It was really amazing to see, however it got a little boring hearing over and over again that we have no idea why it was built and taken care of so well for thousands of years. It is just incredible that it was built so long ago and has lasted this long!


This is the heel stone that is located at the end of the ditch leading up to the Henge. I'm not pervy or anything, but I thought it looked a little phalic...I'm just saying!

















This is Heidi and I at Stonehenge. Heidi is listening to the Audio commentary that they provide you with.



This guy was totally rocking out in a plaza outside the Bath Cathedrale. There were also a lot of men with their children. This little boy in the red was totally into the metal music and was givin'er!















There are the Roman Baths that make Bath such a cool place to visit. It's crazy to see how advanced the Romans were when they built it. They created under-floor furnaces that would warm the floors and the rooms above. The water is not treated but this is apparently what the out door pools used to look like!





Ok, so he's not real but I thought it was hilarious that they placed a model of what the Roman Warriors would wear in the Baths. I wouldn't mind meeting the model for this statue...yummy!




The Bridge built over the river is filled with little shops that look out onto the rushing water beneath. Very cool.















Bath is one of Oprah's top 5 favourite places in the world and after seeing the way the houses are built up along the mountains and seeing the Crescent (a Cul-de-Sac where the houses are built with rounded front to mirror the shape of the circular park in the middle) it is easy to see why Oprah loves it so much!

The Adventures of Amanda and Heidi - London Pictures 2

This is Westminster Abbey where over 1000 famous figures have been buried. I would show you pictures from the inside but it was closed the first day we went and it cost £10 to get in on the other days. I like Cathedrales (Abbeys??) but that is a little much!

















This is Big Ben and the Tower Bridge. Here is a fun little tidbit for you! Big Ben is actually the huge bell on the inside of the tower that chimes on the hours, so really Ben can't be seen in the picture. The Tower Bridge is often mistaken for London bridge from the nursery rhyme, but they are two different bridges. This one is just prettier!










Have you ever arrived somewhere and just knew that you had arrived home? That's what it felt like for me when we got to Buckingham Palace! I mean what more could you ask for? Tones of space, a hot hubby (I prefer Harry over William...less pressure and way more fun...a bit of a dark horse!), and a door man! Perfect!










This is Heidi and I in Picadilly Circus. Apparently if you go at Midnight and declare your love it will last forever. We attempted to find some guys to declare ours, but we were tired so gave up pretty quickly.

The Adventures of Heidi and Amanda - London Pictures 1

Adrian named it the year
of the High Kick and who
are we to argue?

We were looking for somewhere to get a coffee or tea on our first morning in London and this guy singing in the window was just too good to pass up! What effort! The woman serving us told us that she had never served two more polite patrons before! Thanks Mom and Dad for teaching us to say Please and Thanks!

This is the statue of Peter Pan that Heidi really wanted to see in Hyde Park that took us over an hour to find! But it was really worth it when we finally did find it. So cute!

Yup, it says Cockfoster...I know I'm 25 but I am still that Immature. It kept us laughing for a good 5 minutes!

This is a little bit of home in Europe. It's called The Maple Leaf, but you can't really read the middle. I do enjoy that they highlighted the flag though!

Sharing pictures with our new friends i the Maple Leaf! I took a picture that Andrew (?) had on his camera of a friend climbing a wall...it was just that kind of night!

This is Heidi and I riding the tube on the way back to our hostel on Saturday night. I'm not really sure what is going on with my face on the right. I believe I was eating chocolate, but why would I make such a face around chocolate? It's my friend!

This was our friend Jack that we met. He was the one that was doing the Monopoly game. As you can see Heidi was also trying to take his picture at the same time. Between you and me I think she had a crush on him...actually if my intoxicated mind remembers correctly she told him she would live with him if he moved to BC! Slut!

The Adventures of Amanda and Heidi - International Gong Show!

I have SOOOO much to share that it might take me a few days to get it all down here! I was going to post some pictures first but thought that it might be easier if I just write and explain it all first and then post them after. Although most of this posting with focus on our trip to London, the adventure actually started in Galway last Thursday night. Heidi spent 2 nights in Dublin having a great time, and we met back at my house Thursday night. We decided to go to Milano's for dinner, which is Orla's favourite restaurant because of the food and the attractive waiter! After a yummy dinner of pizza we headed over to the Front Door for a drink. In order to experience as much as possible we decided to only have one drink per pub. The Front Door was really busy and was playing pop music, but because there was no where to dance it was a little boring. After our drink (I got Heidi hooked on Vodka and Sparkling water with lemon - you get tipsy but stay hydrated! Amazing!) we went over to the King's Head where we got the best seats in the house, right across from the bar...perfect for people watching. While there we had our hands frenched by a drunk 60 year old celebrating his birthday, watched a guy grinding with a girl who was clearly not interested, and almost ended up with an Aussie girl's top because I liked it so much! Not a bad time. Our last stop of the evening was Neachtain's (the scene of my blind date). We should have known there was trouble ahead when we ended up sitting on a counter within arms reach of the bar. With one drink down, it was getting a little busy and as an Irishman was trying to make his way past, another guy with questionable fashion sense was blocking his way. I told him to just push the guy out of the way, and he said he was too polite for that. I responded that I was Canadian and was usually too polite for such a thing, but desperate times called for desperate measures! We started chatting and it turned out that he was with a guy from work that was also Canadian. Heidi and I noticed that when he got back to his friend they kept talking and looking at us until they finally made their way back over. Their names were Adam (Irish) and John (Canadian). We chatted with John for a bit, but bad breath made it a little hard to handle, but Adam kept us very entertained. He made fun of my height (nothing new), how I got mad when people weren't paying attention to me for 5 minutes, and my kleptomania. The other highlight was that they serve CC!!!! I was in HEAVEN!!!!! Of course I ordered a Rye and Coke and tried to savour it but it was just too good to slow down! The bar finally swept us out (literally) around 12:30am and Heidi and I decided to head home. Friday morning we both slept in, and then it was time to try and pack our stuff to go to London. After changing my bags 3 times we took a taxi down town and met Orla who drove us to Shannon Airport on her way to Limerick. Our flight didn't leave until 8pm, and we arrived at around 4:30pm so we killed the time on the internet, having dinner, buying chocolate, and reading our books. We finally arrived in Stansted at 9:30, took a train into London, and then took the tube to Notting Hill where our hostel was located. It was raining when we arrived, but the walk only took us around 15minutes so it wasn't too bad. Advice to anyone going to London in the future...stay at a place in Notting Hill...it’s so beautiful and so close to everything!
Anyway, originally the plan was to stay with some friends in London, but that fell through so Thursday night before we went out I had called a few hostels and booked a place. I had thought it was the Leinster Inn hostel, but when we arrived they told us we had no reservation and that our confirmation number didn't match theirs. We were really confused, but they put us in another room and promised us we could get a refund on Monday when the management was in. We poured ourselves into the horribly uncomfortable beds and finally fell asleep around 1:30am.

Saturday morning dawned semi-sunny so we packed our bags again (we decided to move down to a 10 bed dorm because it was cheaper) and headed out to the Portobello Market....oh, but the hostel bathrooms were so GROSS! The drain had exploded in one of them and there was no toilet paper in the other...needless to say it took me almost 10 minutes to find a washroom to use in the morning! Ok, back to our day. If you have ever been to Portobello Market you will know what I am talking about, but if not it is SO amazing. It is over a mile long and has everything from antiques to fresh fruits and vegs to clothing (both new and vintage) to accessories. Whatever you want you can find it there. It took us over 2 hours to just get through the market, only spending a few pounds! After the market we walked back to where our hostel was and decided that we had had enough of the grossness that was Leinster Square Inn. We went and checked out another one of the hostels we were going to call and finally figured out that we had in fact made our original reservation at a completely different place! So we booked a room at the new hostel for Sunday and Monday night (Tuesday too for Heidi) and then went and got changed back at the hostel (confused yet?). We were a little stressed and really needed a drink.
I had heard from a few people that there was a Canadian Pub in Covent Garden and I thought it might be fun to check it out. Before we went we had the most amazing Pad Thai at a place across from the Tube, and then headed out. We had no idea where the pub was so ended up asking a rickshaw driver who pointed us in the right direction. On our way there we saw a bunch of guys attempting to ride a mini BMX bike but failing...although interested in what was going on we had drinking to do! We found the Maple Leaf (no joking) without much trouble, and made a bee-line for the bar where they serve all beers Canadian (except Keith’s and Moosehead!). I of course went for the Sleeman's Honeybrown, forgoing the Molson. The bar was really smoky so we decided to get a place by the door and introduced ourselves to a guy from London and his friend from Wales in an attempt to have somewhere to put our beers down. No idea what their names were but we got lots of good advice as to what to see in London while visiting. Unfortunately I could barely understand the guy from Wales so spent a lot of time just nodding and smiling! They took off around 10:30pm so I sent Heidi back up to the bar to get round number 3 (or was it 4?). While there she picked up a few more guys (I think one of them was named Andrew based on the comment posted on a previous posting, but for anyone who knows me, after 3 beers in an hour and a half I start to forget things) who came and sat with us. They were great fun and we chatted away with them until once again the bouncer not so subtly started dropping hints it was time to leave. We said goodbye to our new friends and headed back to the tube station, stopping off at the bike so I could try my hand at it. Apparently there was a trick to it, but in my inebriated state I could not figure it out!
Back on the tube we munched on some chocolate in my purse, made friends with a guy named Jack and found out that Monopoly was originally created in London. This last point was told to us by Jack when he was explaining how he had created a pub crawl based on the board. Basically he got a bunch of people together at 9am and they went to a pub on each of the streets from the game (including the stations) and had a pint or shot. It was then midnight and he couldn't remember how to get home. I also (apparently) kept telling people that I was really drunk...and apologizing for it! When we got off at our stop, Heidi ran into 2 guys that she had met in her hostel in Dublin. We chatted with them and then headed back to the hostel. On our way we met up with a group of women dressed in matching Latin dresses, but they wouldn't tell us why. In order to get a picture of them on the down-low Heidi told me to try and steal a plant from outside a hotel. Ridiculous. When we got to the hostel I flopped into bed, only waking up at 4am for a bathroom run (no vomiting though!).
Sunday dawned gray and rainy. We were the last out of the bedroom and as we were just about to leave the ceiling started gushing water. Needless to say we bolted from there and will NEVER recommend that place to anyone! We dropped our bags at our new hostel and then went and caught the bus for the Hop-on-Hop-off tour. It was really great! We saw SO much of the city and learned a lot from the commentary of the guides. We got off a few times, once in Westminster, then to go to the London Dungeons, and we had a free Thames river cruise. There was just SO much to see that we didn't get to see it all, but were really happy with our day. Sunday night we needed a break so went to see the new movie 'Confetti' in Leicester Square, and after that walked over to Piccadilly Circus to take a few pictures.
Monday morning was once again rainy but we were up bright and early for a tour to see Stonehenge. We took a coach tour that was the same price as taking the train out to the city of Salisbury where we would then have to take a bus out to Stonehenge...awesome deal! Our first stop was Winchester to see a Cathedral and then to see the house where Jane Austen lived her last few years and died. While we were taking pictures I heard a teenage girl ask her brother who Jane Austen was...I almost died! What are they teaching in schools these days?????? After Winchester we went out to see Stonehenge which was really cool. It crazy to think that it is so old that we have NO idea why it was built and taken care of for so long! It was so freezing out at that point though that it was hard to just stand and take it all in. Our last stop of the day was in Bath to see the Roman baths. This was also really cool to see and I could understand why it was one of Oprah's top 5 places to see in the world. Such a beautiful city!
Monday night we got back to London late so Heidi and I went out and grabbed some delicious Sushi to eat then went to a pub for a pint (or 2). It was our last night in London (and of Heidi's visit with me!) so we reminisced about the good times and chatted about what was going on in the next few months. Tuesday was actually really sunny so before I had to leave for the airport we decided to go and do the London Eye. For anyone who doesn't know what it is, it’s a GIANT Ferris wheel where you ride in capsules. It takes 30minutes to do the full rotation and you get some amazing views of London. It was really worth it in my opinion! After the Eye we were going to go into Westminster Abbey but decided against it when we realized it was £10! Instead we took the tube back to Notting Hill and hunted for the Travel Bookshop and the Blue Door from the movie. So much fun.
It was a really incredible trip and already I miss having Heidi here. Thanks hun for being such an amazing friend and sharing a fabulous trip with me! I can't wait to do it again!
I will post pictures soon enough, so stay tuned!!
Love to you all!

Another one joins the world!

I am SO excited to let everyone know who doesn't already, Heidi Bednar is now an aunt to one of the cutest little girls I have ever seen, Chloe Francis Irene Bednar. She was born on Saturday night to her proud parents Josh and Mel. It is definitely the year of the female! I can't wait to meet you little cutie! I am running out of pieces of advice for all these new babies, but I will tell you that you are one lucky little lady being born with an Aunt like Heidi. She will set the standard for friendship that only a lucky few will attain. Cherish these people for they are the real thing.

Road Trip Adventures of Heidi and Amanda

So now that you have all had time to look t the pictures, I thought I would give you a more detailed run-down of the events that took place on our road trip! I'm going to break it down journal style, but you'll love it!

Thursday

After working through a BEAUTIFUL day, Heidi and I were picked up from work by a guy named Thomas who took us over to Enterprise to pick up our car. Because he had trouble finding my work, and so was about 45 minutes late picking us up, the company gave us a free up-grade and we ended up with a standard 4 door hatch-back with CD player, automatic doors and windows, and (not that we used it) AC. We set in the car, heading south in to County Clare, down the Coast Road. It remained beautiful and we stopped at a few places along the way to take pictures. We also happened across a beautiful beach and I decided we needed to stop and get our feet wet. Just a quick stop though because we had to get to Doolin.
Doolin in the unofficial Trad Music Capital of Ireland. There are always locals and travelers stoping in pubs and playing some great music. We decided to go for dinner and drinks at a pub called McGann's. On the way there it was pouring rain and we were walking so got soaked. But there is nothing like a war pub to dry you out! We both had Irish Stew, and both felt like we were going to barf when we were done because we ate SOOOO much!! After eating we moved tables so that we would be closer to the music and that is where the fun really began. Phrases like 'Oh my Guiness' were said, I started dancing and appeared to look like I was performing upper body aerobics, and then the best part...I leaned over to tell Heidi something and all of a sudden I let out a really loud fart. Not only was it loud on its own, but we were sitting on wooden benches so it echoed off them and was even louder. There was a German family sitting with us and only one of them appeared to have heard it, but when Heidi and I and the other girl broke out in hystarical laughing, she quickly told them the story. It kept us lfaughing for a good 10 minutes.
After that it was a little lower key. There was a guy who kept asking us questions and then relaying them back to his friends in another room, and then Nicki. Nicki was originally sitting with the band and trying to sing, quite unsuccessfully, but then moved to come and sit with us at our table. He was a really overweight, 60 (at least) year old. When we told him we were from Canada he proceeded to tell us how he was on the run from the Irish Government in Canada, taking a train that he thought was headed for the States and ending up in Hamilton. When we asked what he had done he simply replied 'Irish Politics'. Clearly he was a part of a conspiracy to assassinate or bomb someone. After that conversation we picked ourselves up and headed back to the hostel.

Friday

Friday dawned nice and Irish (grey and rainy) so got dressed, had some breakfast (Heidi had black and white pudding for the first time), and hit the road. We stopped in Lahinch to take some great pictures, by-passed the Cliffs of Moher because it was so foggy, got a 20 minute ferry from Kilrush to Tarbert to avoid going back to Limerick, stopped in Bennerville to see the Windmill and go pee and then skipped the hostel we had originally booked into because it was miles out of town. When we got to Dingle, we had to find a place to stay so parked the car and walked around for a bit. We stumbled upon a great place called the Grapevine Hostel, booked in, then had to park the car somewhere over night. Unfortunately the streets are really narrow and I ended up having a minor dissagreement with the side mirror of a truck parked on the side of the road. We finally got the car parked, took our bags to the hostel, changed and headed out for some dinner. I mostly gave a blow by blow of our evening when I posted the pictures, but I'll just tell you about it again. We went to John Benny's for dinner and decided to stick around because they apparently do really great live music too. Unfortunately the table we were sitting at was only for eating so we had to drag our meal out over 2 hours....really hard for me because I tend to eat so damn fast! We succeeded though and managed to have great seats for the entertainment. A group of older Dutch people ended up sitting in front of us with the crew from their ship, and that is where the obsession with the yellow shirts started. After a few more pints and some stolen wood, we decided to head on to another pub.
Our next stop was a hotel pub called Paudie's. Their music was just finishing up as we arrived so we didn't get to hear much, but we sat at the bar and had a pint. For some reason I thought it was really important that I call Adam, and so attempted to leave him a message, but the woman kept cutting me off so in the end I just got frustrated and hung up! The pub wasn't too exciting so we decided to move on again after just one drink. Our next (and final stop) of the evening was at a place called Murphy's. Here there were 3 great singers performing great music, and the return of the yellow shirted boat crew. Heidi go our drinks and then stood talking to the crew while I sat with an older couple and boped along to the music. When they played Kenny Roger's The Gambler I almost peed my pants from excitement, and jumped up to sing and dance along. The band motioned for me to sing with them, but I know that I am not a good singer and didn't want to force innocent people to listen to me. After a few pints, which Heidi almost forgot to get change from, we decided to call it a night (the music was over and the pub was clearing out).

Saturday

Saturday morning dawn beautifully bright, so we jumped out of bed, had some delicious breakfast and then headed down to the marina to book a tour to see Fungi the dolphin. No one knows where Fungi came from, fishermen just started to notice him swiming around their boats back in 1983 and he has never left. Tours run hourly, and you only pay if Fungi comes around...of course he did! It was so fun! Everyone got so excited and cameras were flashing. He's a real ham. He even caught a fish and was swiming up to show us! After Fungi we got in the car and headed to the Ring of Kerry. While we were leaving Dingle we came across a field on the side of a huge hill with Cows and Sheep, so decided to stop for a bit. I wanted to get a little closer and so jumped a fence, however mummy sheep was not too happy about that and stood up to let me know. I just snapped a few pictures and got back on the other side.
Driving along the coast road we saw so many beautiful sights including a huge Mary statue in the middle of nowhere, a Charlie Chaplin statue, Mountains and sea. Because it was so sunny out we decided to stop and have a quick dip in the ocean. Most people at the beach thought we were idiots, but it was so great and so spontaneous!
Saturday night was stayed at a hostel in Kenmare. The hostel was so quiet, we basically had it all to ourselves. We went out for a great dinner and then decided to take a break from the pub and rented a movie instead.

Sunday

We once again woke up to a rainy day, and COULD NOT find anywhere to eat breakfast, so stopped in a convenience store and bought some yogurt and cookies. After that nutricious breaky we decided to hike up to the Stone Circle. It was an easy hike, just about 10 minutes down a few back roads, and when we arrived it was breathtaking...actually it was a bunch of boulders in a circle pattern with one in the middle...and no explanation as to why they were there. I thought it might have been the first model for stonehenge, but Heidi learned later that it might have been a place of burial or something and was not in fact related to Stonehenge at all. After Kenmare we continued on the Ring of Kerry, our first stop being at Muckross House in Kilarney National Park. Its an old house that has been restored and we did a tour of the house and the gardens. So beautiful. After the house we stoped at Ross Castle were we did another tour and took some great pictures.
That was our last stop of the day so headed onto Cork for the night. We were staying with Olivia and Alan in Blarney, but both were heading out for Hen/Stag nights so Heidi and I just went out to dinner at a fab restaurant, with a REALLY cute waiter, then went for a few pints at a place called the Bodega. We talked a lot about old times and reminised about University. One of my favourite nights.

Monday

Monday was crap weather again, but the raining stopped long enough for us to go and kiss the Blarney stone at Blarney Castle. Its was really fun to climb through the old castle and check out all the nooks and craneys. Really romantic to think about living in the middle ages, but the reality was so cold and stark! Rock floors, no toilets, small windows...not exactly paradise.
After the castle we decided to head into Cork and check out the English Market for lunch. Its a big market much like the St. Lawrence market, where the cafe makes everything they serve from fresh products bought from the market below. A bit of shopping later it was time to get back in the car and head back to Galway.

It was a fabulous 4 days and I'm so glad that I had the chance to do it with Heidi!
Tuesday she headed to Dublin for 2 nights to check it out, and last night we went out in Galway. Tonight we are heading to London until she leaves to go hom on Wednesday. I'm really excited to go, but sad to think that the visit is almost over. I'll post all the pictures and stories next week!
Love to you all!

Pictures of the Adventures of Heidi and Amanda

The adventure began on Thursday night when Heidi and I got picked up at work to go to Enterprise to pick up our car. This is him! We named him Tommy after the guy who helped us out with the rental, Thomas!
As we were driving down to Dingle we came across this beautiful beach and decided to stop and have a look. The water was chilly but not too bad. We both go our feet wet and wrote some messages in the sand...Heidi thinks they would be perfect for a slide show...she is SUCH an RM!
On our way from Doolin to Dingle, we came across this Windmill which is the largest in operation in Ireland. I really had to go to the washroom so I made Heidi stop and we did the tour. It turned out to be pretty fun...well maybe not fun but definetly informative!
We rented a car for our 4 day trip and I did really good with the narrow roads, driving on the left side, and even with shifting gears with my left hand. The only problem I seemed to have was that I kept hitting side mirrors on cars. This was my first victim, a truck in Dingle. All I can say is thank goodness for folding side mirrors. No damage to either car!

Dingle has some GREAT pubs, so instead of just enjoying one, Heidi and I decided to create a bit of a pub crawl. Our first stop was at a place called 'John Benny's' where we had dinner and listened to some great Trad music. While sitting there a group of older men and women came in with 4 people in matching yellow shirts. We could not figure out what the deal was, but didn't really care. Our next stop was at the hotel pub called 'Paudie's'. We came in just at the music was finishing and sat at the bar and had a drink each. We thought we were the funniest people there and were in histarics. We tried to call Adam at home, but he didn't answer so we wrote him a letter on the back of some coasters. They were made of a material much like thick napkins. Very absorbant. I thought they might be a great antipersperant...Heidi didn't really agree. Our last stop was at a place called Murphy's where there was a GREAT band that played 'The Gambler' for me and a bunch of other great songs. The yellow shirts were also in this place and Heidi made friends with them. The music was so great that we got up and danced a little. When the pub closed we wanted a picture at the front to remember the night, and one of the guys followed us out so we thought he'd be a fun addition to the picture. Little did we know how fun!



Dingle is the home of a famous Dolphin named Fungi. There are pictures and stuffed animals, and there are tours that run out to see him every day. This is my immatation of a dolphin, Fungi in the flesh, and Heidi riding the waves. Loved the kitch!

The deal with driving was that if there was ever anywhere that Heidi wanted to stop and take pictures, she just had to yell out the code word...'STOP!' This was one of those stops. I decided to jump the fence and get some close pictures. This mama sheep was relaxing with her babe until I got a little too close for comfort, and she jumped up and stood beside it. I just snapped a few pictures and then climbed the back up. Loved being one with the sheep for a few minutes! What do you do when you are in Ireland, the sun is shinning, it's warm out, and you come across a beautiful Atlantic beach? Why pull over, throw on your bathing suit, and run into the water of course! The only rule was you had to get your hair wet, and we both did, however we may have experienced a little bit of shock once we were out...but lived to tell the tail!
Once upon a time in Ireland, people lived in Bog villages, which were basically houses whose roofs were made from mud and peat (is that the same thing?). We came across a village and decided to stop and check it out. This goat was at the front and it had such creepy eyes we had to take a picture. The cat was sleeping below and scared the beegeebies out of Heidi. I named him Bill.

Many, many years ago, Charlie Chaplin used to Vacation in the little seaside resort town of Waterville, Co. Kerry. In order to commemorate this, the towns people got together and put up a statue of Charlie, life-size. It was a photo-op too good to pass up!


While touring on the Aran Islands, Heidi heard from some other people that there was a castle near Killarney called Ross Castle. Her mom's married name is Ross so we decided to head over and take a look. Although we told the people that her name is Ross, apparently that doesn't mean that Heidi has some claim to it, or that she even gets a discount on the entrance fee!This is a picture of Mucross House. It's a really beautiful house on the Ring of Kerry that Heidi heard about from some tourists. We got to go in and have a tour, however weren't able to take pictures...I have no idea why! The gardens were also really beautiful, but didn't want to bore you with those pictures. But I will send them to anyone that wants to see them!
Thoughout our trip Heidi and I decided to be rebles and started stealing things. We started in Dingle where we stole a piece of firewood from the pile next to us. Then we thought it would be funny to start to take something and leave the previous item we had stolen. So from our hostel in Dingle we stole a rock holding that was holding down brochures, and left the wood. Then when we got to Kenmare we left the rock and stole a tea light from the restaurant where we had dinner. We needed a knife for the car and so we left the candle at the hostel and stole one of their bread knives. Our next stop was Cork, but of course we forgot the knife, however Heidi still wanted her beer mug, so we stuffed it with napkins and put it in my bag. That was the end of our stealing because Tyrone (Olivia's Dog) was the only thing I wanted to steal from her house but he wouldn't get in the car!

This is the Blarney Castle. Basically you climb to the top, (using the most slippery and narrow steps ever!) lay down, bend backwards and kiss a stone. God I love the random Irish Traditions!

This is Heidi on the left and me on the right kissing the stone. Apparently it blesses you with the 'gift of the gab'...like either of us needs any extra help in that department! I have to say that these are probably not the most attractive pictures of us but whenelse will I ever get a picture of myself from this angle?