Dale's Adventure Diary: Jaclyn's visit

So about a month ago one of my dearest friends Jaclyn came over to the UK. She was booked on a Contiki tour for the month of June, but lucky for me had arranged a week to spend with me before the tour began. I can't even begin to explain how special it was to have her with me again after so long. She was the first close friend I'd seen in a year and a link back to my life at home. Not that we saw each other every day, but we were always in contact and saw each other whenever we could.

So we met up in Trafalgar Square in the morning and made our way to our hotel, via buckingham palace, as we simultaneously caught up on a year's worth of happenings. After dropping our bags off we made our way to the nearby Victoria and Albert Museum, which I hadn't been to yet and Jaclyn was keen to see. Once again I was blown away by the brilliance of the museum scene in London. This one was another beautifully put together collection of historical artifacts from various eras, all in a magnificent setting. Well worth a visit. Also the gift shop is soooooo nice and I ended up buying a really cute pair of earrings.

Inside the V&A museum - the classical era (my favourite)

After that we went to pret-a-manger for lunch and then went back to the hotel to check in to our room. We decided to go to a show that night, and upon learning that Kit Harington's play 'Dr Faustus' was showing that night, deciding what to see was fairly straightforward! Rather than booking online we decided to just show up and hope there would be tickets available. We were in luck! Managed to get great seats for less than we would have paid if we had booked online. Score!! So we sat back and prepared to see the famous actor in real life....

Strangest play ever. It was so, so weird and not far in to it Jaclyn and I exchanged a "what the heck" glance. Sure, it was great to see Kit Harington live (especially when he took his shirt off! haha HELLO abs), but we didn't know what what going on half the time. I think it was about the Doctor's inner turmoil between leading a selfish, sinful existence or leading a good, caring life, but I can't be sure. Half the time the actors were standing around sans pants (just undies), and some of the script was in old-english and some was modern. It was entertaining for sure, and laughable because it was just so bizarre. So we were glad we had been, but not sure we'd recommend it!

The stage, from our seats

The next day we went to Harrods in the morning and then went to the Hilton Hotel near Green Park for a spot of high tea. This was wonderful. All the treats were delectable and the tea was great. After that we went to see Big Ben and the houses of parliament and then went to the London Dungeon! This was something I hadn't done but had always been curious about. And it was really good. It's basically just a journey through London's past and significant events that happened, all told by actors in sets reflecting the era they're talking about. It was really enjoyable and there were even a couple of little rides included which were great fun. And at the end we got a free drink in the dungeon bar, so that was a bonus! After the dungeon we walked along the South Bank, saw the London Eye and then went on a Jack the Ripper tour we'd pre-booked. This tour was ok, the guide was very outgoing and funny and the history was interesting, but I'm not sure that I'd recommend it because you're shown all these random sights like houses and spots on the pavement, but there's nothing to see because, obviously, it all happened so long ago. By the end of that we were fairly knackered so went back to the hotel to sleep.

Taking a sip before diving into the delicacies

The Dungeon entrance

Next morning we were up bright and early for our flight to Dublin!! We arrived in the Emerald Isle early afternoon and after checking in to our hostel, went for a walk to orientate ourselves a bit. First impressions of Dublin were that it looked quite run down and didn't look all that nice at all, but the closer we got to the city centre the livelier and more enthralling it became. And AHHHH the Irish accent is sooo nice!!!! Anyways so we walked up O'Connell Street, crossed the River Liffey and made our way to Trinity College to see the library. When we got inside, my goodness, it was the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. I love any library (because books) but this was just on another level.

Dublin's River Liffey

Trinity College library

After seeing such breathtaking beauty (lol) we walked through Temple Bar which is the tourist hub of Dublin and where there are loads of Irish pubs, restaurants, street performers, markets etc etc. After that we grabbed some dinner, made our own chocolate bars at this place where you could choose whatever you wanted in your bar and then we weren't quite sure what to do with our night so we ended up going to the movies and saw Bad Neighbours 2, which was a bit of a laugh.

Such cool Irish bars in Temple Bar

The next morning we were up at 5am (so hard) to catch our coach for our day trip out to Galway and the Cliffs of Moher! This was a really awesome day, made even more so by the two most hilarious tour guides ever. The Irish sense of humour is great and the Irish people are the friendliest I've come across in my travels. So our trip took us across the entire width of Ireland, as Galway in on the West coast while Dublin is on the East Coast. We stopped in Galway for an hour-long walking tour and got to explore the city a little bit. And what a lovely city it is. Cobbled streets, bunting all over the place, street performers doing irish music, crisp sea air...it was so nice. I would love to go back and actually stay there at some point. After Galway we made the rest of the trip to the famed Cliffs of Moher which were really a sight to behold.

Around by the sea in Galway - this area reminded me of Ahuriri which made me miss home!

Cute streets of Galway

The Cliffs of Moher

Looking out over the Atlantic Ocean

The next morning we got up and went to Phoenix Park, which had a big war memorial garden. This was nice to walk around and, much to our surprise, there were deer roaming freely around the place! And they came right up to us. After that we walked over to Kilmainham Gaol which is a hugely significant site in Irish history. We did a tour of that which was just excellent, once again with a hilarious and lovely Irish guide. It was really interesting to learn a bit about the uprisings in Irish history and to learn about what the country has had to face - which has been a heck of a lot! After our tour we headed back to the hostel, got dolled up and went to the Arlington hotel for a 3-course meal and Irish folk show which was a great time. After that we went out to Temple Bar and danced the night away in a few Irish pubs, where we seemed to meet a lot of English people.

Deer frolicking freely in the park

The central hall at Kilmainham Gaol

Next morning we were up early to get our flight back to London. After arrival we went to our next hotel to drop our things off and then went to get some food for lunch. And it was then that we discovered the most delicious food I've ever had. Seriously, it rivals Cafe Anatolia for me, and that's saying something because those kebabs are my favourite food. It was a restaurant called 'The Real Greek' and we had this sharing thing that came out in two tiered stands. It had stuff like lamb kofte, hummus, falafel, haloumi skewers, spicy chickpeas....eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee and it was all so flavoursome and healthy and delicious and I need to go back. This was also the bankside restaurant (they are all over London) so we were sitting along the Thames, watching all the interesting people of London go by. It was fab! After that we went and saw Tower Bridge and then headed back to the hotel because we were pretty tired.

Taking photos of some of the MOST AMAZING FOOD

Next day after a delicious breakfast at the hotel, we went to the Churchill War rooms. I wasn't quite sure whether I'd enjoy this but it turned out to be one of the best things I've done in London. Despite the epic wait to get inside (seriously, the line was crazy long), it was so worth it to see the underground bunkers which have been kept exactly as they were during WWII and to learn all about Winston Churchill. The whole time I was thinking 'man, Dad would LOVE this'. It took us about 2 hours to get around but it flew by because it was so fascinating. After a bite of lunch (Pret again, because YUM) we went to Madame Tussauds. This was both fun and creepy. It was fun taking pictures with our favourites, and there's a 5D movie at the end which is super cool. But we both found the wax figures creepy because they're so lifelike and look as though they'll move at any minute! After that we had to say our goodbyes as I had to head back to Lane End for work the next day :( It sucked saying goodbye after such a fun week together, but I'm so thankful that we got to have all these wonderful experiences together, and create all these memories.