A Quick Update

We only have a few minutes for an update- but we are in Florence and having a grand time! We actually did do Rome in a day, and we have spent all of today walking... and walking... and walking some more around Florence. I think our favorite thing was the Santa Maria Novella Cathedral. Look it up, it was amazing. (We cannot upload pictures because of a shortage of battery supply and the lack of time for the internet). The lines to see the major art galleries are OUT OF CONTROL here. They stretch on and on, so we are not sure if we will actually get to see the David or all of the cool art in the Uffuzi, but we are dedicating tomorrow to trying.

We leave for Nice tomorrow, and then we are on to Barcelona the next day! We are not sure when we will be able to update, but we wanted to let you know that though tired, and very HOT, but truly enjoying ourselves!

Dad(s), you need to come here. Dad Meadows, we were not sure if you had been, but we figured that you had visited Italy in your travels. Dad Williams, you better get over here! You do not have a choice, it is a must. It will blow your mind!!!!

We have to run, love you all!

Duncan and Whitney

Today is MUCH better

Greetings from Roma!

Today has been much better than yesterday… much, much better. Last night while we were trying to fall asleep, we were brainstorming ways to get home sooner. Luckily, things worked out better today. Duncan is my hero as he has taken care of navigating all the trains and whatnot.

But let’s start at the beginning.

We left for the Pompeii ruins around 8 am this morning. Visiting Pompeii was one of my dreams- and well worth that honor. We opted to just walk around and explore on our own. It was amazing! See the preserved artwork was astounding! We only spent about three hours there. The Italian heat is a big change from Dublin rain, but the heat is more bearable than the steamy humidity at home. We’ve been drinking lots of water (Mom, you’d be proud).

We made our train for Rome, no problem. It was only a two-hour ride that passed quite pleasantly. Duncan slept half the way.

A shuttle bus picked us up and brought us to the campsite. After dumping our stuff, we immediately hit the pool. Yes, there is a pool here, and it was amazingly refreshing to take a dip. It was quite crowded and a couple was haphazardly hitting a ball around us, but still just grand.

Then we cleaned up a bit and enjoyed an Italian dinner at the restaurant on site- Duncan had pizza and I had lasagna. All was very tasty (and sooooooo much cheaper than Dublin; we both ate for €15)!

We also bought a €2.50 bottle of wine which we plan to drink all of, if possible, tonight so that we don’t have to carry it around tomorrow. But what better way to wait to see the Pope than drinking straight from a bottle of vino? Just kidding, we bought plastic cups… and we’re only drinking as much as we see fit tonight.

But, we’re off to watch the sunset and drink that wine. Thanks for prayers, as I am sure they helped make today go much smoother than yesterday.

Love you all!

Duncan and Whitney

P.S I would like to say this trip has made me less high-maintenance about… a lot. I am no longer a snob to tap water, I’ll take whatever I can get. I am sleeping in a tent, and glad to be… and I didn’t wash my hair this morning. I’m a new woman! ☺

From my last day at work- Helen, me, Fiach and Steve

A view of the Alps from the plane

Pompeii

Duncan at Pompeii

And the darn volcano that did it (Jen, I imagined you up there when I saw it)

Duncan swiping water from Pompeii

A dragon of sorts on the wall

These were some really neat tiles

Gorgeous trees...

A mural we found that seemed to depict the birth of Venus

A really neat mosaic on the floor of a room at Pompeii

One last view of some ruins before we left

Here we are after our dip in the pool outside our humble abode

I'm proving that we're staying in something the length of my armspan

Getting ready to go out for dinner

Oh My Freakin' Gosh

So, the language barrier... sucks.

Thus far, our experiences on the world traveling have been a bit... crappy. We arrived at the Dublin airport two hours ahead of schedule (so four hours before our flight) in order to share a taxi to split the cost. Somehow we managed to kill the time with reading or playing cards.

The flight itself was quite grand. Flying over the Alps was AMAZING! We tried to take pictures, but none could really capture what we were seeing. I definitely want to go to Switzerland now. We also had a female pilot, which I don't think I have ever had before. The flight was only three hours and passed pretty quickly.

Then we arrived in Italy, and that is where our problems began. We waited at baggage claim for a little over an hour.. an hour! No reasons, just everyone standing around for an hour. We had a fear that we would again lose our luggage, and as we are moving on tomorrow, we were a bit worried about it catching up with us. But it finally came!

So, as it was getting later, we did find English-speaking persons at the info desk at the airport. They directed us a bus that would get us to the main train station, from which our directions to the hostel started. We made it to the station okay- but then all hell broke loose. Well, not really. We waited for a train at one terminal, but all the trains that came were direct to Pompeii, and not what we wanted. Then we tried the Metro, but we had no idea what line to get on. Then we asked some police to point us to a bus- one happened to speak English (thank Jesus) and pointed us to where we could catch a bus. After standing around for about half an hour and realizing that we had no idea what we were doing, we broke down and decided to get a taxi. We were warned that they rip off tourists... and they did. €40 later, we got to Portici- but it didn't really feel safe standing outside at the bus park at 11 pm not knowing any Italian, so I'll accept a €40 bill. However, he dropped us off at a round about... and we still had to wander around to find our hostel. After taking a wrong turn, we had an Italian man chase us down saying stuff in Italian. He pointed down a scary road, and Duncan started to follow him...

Ok, here's where I have to interject, so that it doesn't seem like I am leading Whitney into harrowing and irresponsible danger at every turn. let me begin by saying that I am helpless here- I don't know who to trust and who to be wary of, and speaking none of the language doesn't help. And, as Whitney has appointed me the leader around here, it fell on me to decide how to proceed.

Now, if you are in a completely strange town at 11 at night, and an old man approaches you and starts gesturing down a dark alley and trying to say something to you, your first instinct is to get the hell away. Like... in Atlanta, for instance. Stranger danger, and all that. Really, I am just confused by him, and the Italians won't let you go away until they are done with you. Turns out, he was indeed pointing us to the right place, which we never would have found by ourselves, and I felt mortified by my ignorance of his attempt to help. Luckily, an old Italian lady led us there, saving the day with the word "hostel?", and all was well.

I need to say, though, I hate being helpless here. The bus and train system is horribly confusing and the routes are nowhere to be comprehensibly found, and I feel like and idiot when all I can do is give a blank stare and point to my ear whenever trying to get help or solicit a service... I hope it gets better.

Anyway, having made it clear that I would never be led like a blind puppy to put Whitney in harrowing peril, here's her again!

I love that little Italian woman. She was like a grandmother, and I owe the sleep I get tonight to her. I'd also like to say that the door she pointed us through looked at first to lead to a carpark. I thought, oh hell, where are we? But luckily, we are safe... and about to go to bed, to head to Pompeii in the morning. Wish us luck, that it goes better than tonight has.

Oh Dublin, I miss thee!

Oh English, I miss thee too!

Second to Last Day at Work

Hello everyone!

Well, I am here by myself because Duncan is working late tonight at a "sports night" for the kids. He should be home in an hour or so though. However, I guess the update is left to me!

Firstly, I had some very entertaining conversations with my coworkers about American things. We talked about American tv shows and how many commercial breaks there are. Helen said she didn't know how we watched tv that way, and that often times American shows would run for 40 minutes on Irish tv (meaning we lose 20 minutes to commercials when we're viewing). I mentioned that some people watch the Super bowl just for the commercials, and everyone in the office was outraged. They thought that was ridiculous. Helen said she watched the Super bowl a few years ago and that it was horrendously boring. Then we talked about how American sports are boring because they are continually stopped for all of the rules and regulations... and how if you barely touch someone it is a foul (and after watching just a few minutes of any Irish sporting match, you will know why they think that ridiculous). Fiach said he rather liked ice hockey- I told him that it was pretty much the most violent of sports we watch, and that was probably why he liked it.

In other news, I looked up the forecast for the cities Duncan and I will be visiting next week, and while sunny, it is HOT! Florence is supposed to get up to 105°!! We've grown accustomed to the mid sixties. Today it got up to about 70 and it felt pretty hot to me. That's kind of sad- but true. So, in my shock, and realization that I had packed only one pair of WHITE shorts, I ran down to the "cheap" store and picked up and extra pair. I also got a new purse because the one I have now doesn't have a zipper. I've heard about those pick-pockets in Italy... and Spain, so I'm trying to get prepared!

Last night Duncan and I pretty much exhausted the Office episodes available online, so tonight I have moved to My Name is Earl. It is truly hard to get by without a tv.

We would gladly receive any recommendations anyone has for things to do or see while in our last week of travels. As we don't have much time in any particular place, we're pretty much planning to do the average tourist stuff... hate being one, but what can you do?

I send my love to everyone- please pray for safe travels and we're looking forward to seeing everyone on the other side of the pond!

<3
Whitney

it's the FINAL COUNTDOWWWWWWWN!

No news is good news, I guess.

We have firmed up our plans for the rest of our travels. We decided to skip Arles and go for a day in Nice-- I read that the French Riviera has sunshine 300 days a year. So I'm banking on July 19 being one of those 300.

Other than that, work was EXTREMELY boring today. Duncan was able to visit Howth (the magical place), though he did not find it quite as magical when visiting it alone and on a cloudy day.

We're off to watch episodes of the Office on-line!

Love you all-
Whitney (and Duncan)

Daisy Dukes

Very little happened today, so we shall leave you with this story...

This morning I, Whitney, made my usual morning commute. However, when Kelly and I got on the bus, it was more packed than usual, so we had to separate. After a few stops, my seat buddy left and I had an open vacancy for a few moments. At one point, I looked up and saw this man... an Eastern European man, I think. I didn't really get a good look at him, except for his attire- some glorious cut-off jean shorts- shorts that were shorter than anything I own. And, of course, he sat next to me. At this point I just dove into my book in hopes that I could avoid eye contact and make the time pass as quickly as possible. The amount of bare skin next to me was quite discomforting. Kelly was having a hard time holding back her laughter, and once I finally escaped to my stop, I heard her finally let it out as she stepped off the bus. Only in Europe (or maybe Dawsonville) would I have such an encounter.

<3

a Recap

Our Trip to Galway

We caught our bus to Galway Saturday morning at 10 a.m. We thought it was the last we would see the sun that weekend (and that it figured the first day we had seen the sun in what felt like an eternity, was the day we left).
Duncan and myself on the bus, ready to go!

There was a pretty big cemetery close to our hotel. We all decided to explore it. There was a bird perched on top of Jesus. I thought that was funny.

This was at the foot of a grave- and probably the funniest thing I have seen in Ireland; it captures the Irish wit perfectly.

All of the Berry kids went to a pub to grab a drink for Kelly's b-day. We also were able to catch part of a hurling match on the big screen. To reference an earlier quote, it does beat the shit out of golf (and most American sports for that matter). I recommend watching a game to anyone who find one to watch! It's quite intense.
Beth, our resident coffee drinker

The birthday girl, Kelly! and her Bulmers, of course.

Jordan, sunburned, and with his Bulmers as well

Duncan and his beloved whiskey, except it was Bushmills, not Jameson- his true heart's desire

Me- beginning to feel the long day, and my first day with more than two hours out of bed in nearly a week, accompanied by my vodka and tonic

Saturday came and we set out on our tour down the west coast- as you can see the beautiful water was accompanied by amazing weather!! How could it be?! We still don't know.

We stopped in a little town called Doolin and ate at this pub- the food was delicious, with big portions and FAST service. It was very enjoyable.

We then visited the Cliffs of Moher- 650 feet high and 7 miles long, they are quite a natural beauty. However, they are also decorated with TONS of tourists. I know, it is completely hypocritical to say the tourists kind of ruined the experience, but they did :) It was still amazing to see though.

If you can even see them, the tiny dots in the left corner on the cliffs are people, if that gives you any scale at all.

The water was the same stunning blue that we saw on the Northern coast.

Duncan with ice cream on his beard- What can we say? He likes his soft-serve.

This was an ancient burial tomb older than the Egyptian pyramids.

Sadly, everyone deemed this car cooler than the burial tomb. It was pretty cool though.

By the way- did I mention that the hotel room was somewhat of a fiasco? You're only supposed to have two people in a room, and we clearly had four. I thought I had booked a room with a double bed, a pull-out couch and a cot- enough for all four of us to have adequate room. Of course, I said only Duncan and I were staying there. Well, sneaking two other people in to the room bit us in the butt. We had only ONE double bed. But guess what- we all managed to fit- kind of.

Back to our Saturday excursion, here is a pic of Duncan and me enjoying the scenery.

We thought these signs at the cliffs were funny. Why is the man running off the cliff?

Also to our amusement, the cows here are much more comfortable plopping down and sleeping like cats. I must admit, it was alarming at first to see cows laying this way. I thought they were dead, but Beth (who is an animal science minor) assured us this was normal for a sleeping bovine.

This is me taking a photo at the Burren Mountains. The mountains are limestone, and used to be under water. They put stone mountain to shame.

Lastly, this is another castle we saw from a distance. If you look closely in the foreground, you can see a few geese and their babies.

Things that didn't make the photos:

• We tried to eat Mexican again for Kelly's birthday. Again, it was a flop. Apparently authentic Mexican food does not exist in Ireland. La Salsa- despite being only an imitation- was still oddly pretty good. I am not sure what ethnicity of food it actually was, but I liked it.
• We visited Ireland's "premier show-cave" and paid €8 to get in. It was a let-down. Think Ruby Falls, without the ruby.
• At the Galway bus-station, we saw a demented pigeon. No, I'm not talking New Orleans diseased- winged- rat, but this black thing that was kind of heaving. And it wasn't just me with my strange fear of the stupid birds- it was scaring the others.
  
• Our bus ride home was 4 long hours.
  

I finished my antibiotics today- and feel back to full-health! I had plenty to do at work, and Duncan got to go swimming (or at least to a pool) with the kiddies.

And we would like to take this time to thank our parents for their financial aid. We would be destitute our last week without the help.

We're sending love and good tidings to everyone!