DD Kimball Road: Ever been hung off the side of a castle? I have!

Hey Guys! Are any of you the type of people that LOVE to travel? I totally am one of those people. I wish I had lots and lots of money so that I could just travel anywhere I wanted to go and just see the world. I blame my first ever trip outside of the U.S.A. to my infatuation with travel. Right after high school I went on a "school" trip to England, Wales and Ireland. It was a blast! 2 weeks in a foreign country!

Here's the thing, I thought I had lost all my photos! When I got married, my parents moved out of my childhood home. In the hustle and bustle of me moving, and them moving I lost the album with all the photos in it....people this was pre-digital cameras! I couldn't find the negatives either! I cried! Last year, my mom was going through boxes and FOUND THEM! I was so excited that I sent them off to Costco to be put on disc. I popped in the disc and was underwhelmed to say the least....my photography skills were lacking (18 years old with no idea what I was doing with a disposable camera!) I played with them enough to bring out the colors, and I think they look so much better.

So back to the story. We left LAX in the afternoon and took the 10+ hour flight "across the pond." We were all so excited that no one slept, and that 6 hour time difference dropped us in London mid morning. We were greeted by our tour guide, dumped our luggage at the hotel and made our way on the first day of touring. Over the next couple of days we did our performances, the reason we went was to perform for school kids and at elderly facilities...we did sketches, singing and dancing. We also toured all the areas of London....Tower Bridge, Westminster Abbey, Changing of the Guard, Buckingham Palace, the London Eye....etc. Judging from the photos, I can't really tell what anything is, so if I have any London readers that could help me in determining what things are! If I remember correctly we toured Oxford as well....this was 12 years ago, so my brain and the memories have faded a bit!

Interesting outfit I have on! I wore the Shape Ups before they
were fashionable! Wait were they ever fashionable?!

Tower Bridge

The changing of the guard was really interesting! I also turned 18 while on this trip and we did it up right with fish and chips and lots of sightseeing.

Changing of the Guard

Gardens at Buckingham Palace

Our tour guide

After several days of playing in London, taking photos inside those large red phone booths (which have very interesting advertisements in them!) We made the trek into Wales to catch the ferry over to Ireland. We went to the train station in Llanfairpwllgwyngyll, Wales. This city has the longest name in the world and you can stamp your own passport with it! Of course we did! We hopped on the ferry and made our way over to the greenery that is Ireland!

We toured around the Ring of Kerry in Kilarney and just took in all the sights! Everything was just beautiful, however somewhere along the way I caught a cold, so I was asleep during much of the bus tours. I was also told that our bus driver like to spike his morning coffee with Baileys....so I was kind of glad that I wasn't awake for that roller coaster! We did our performances and went to a little fair/carnival and took in all the culture there. We also went to see a comedy show....although half of the show was in Gaelic so most of the jokes were lost on us Americans. We still had a great time!

My favorite memory was visiting Blarney Castle. It was just so cool to see a medieval castle and how people once lived. I was also very excited to kiss the Blarney Stone, that is until I realized what that entailed. You have to walk to the top of this 90 foot high castle, around the outer edge to the stone, lie on your back while two men hold your ankles and lean you backwards over the edge of the castle and kiss it upside down. I am terrified of heights! I had convinced myself that I wasn't going to do it, until it was my turn and I just said to myself....Diane just do it! They have since put in metal safety rails so your not hanging off the edge of the building by your ankles! It was seriously so exhilarating and I hope to take the hubby there someday! Watch the video below for a tour of Blarney Castle (not my video)

These pictures just don't do the beauty of this country justice! I hope that someday I can visit the world and see all the culture that it has to offer!