Happy St. Patrick's Day!!

Oustide of Christ Chuch--rocking our awesome pirate hats that we got as part of the scavenger hunt!! 

Our clues--and evidence that we failed, and only got two stamps

Happy St. Patricks DAY!! 

The weather was awful, but we tried to have a good time anyway! 

Christ Church--The first Anglican/Episcopal Church in Ireland.

Crypt of Christ Church--really cool.

Kylea, me, and Emily rocking our brand new Irish Rugby jerseys..which we are all never taking off because they were ridiculously expensive.

Another tomb in Christ Church.

Right after we bought our jerseys, with the salesmen in the store who had awesome ST. Patty's day hats!! 

So--this weekend is the Annual St. Patrick's Festival in Dublin..we went in yesterday for the rugby match/do a really fun scavanger hunt that was supposed to take us all over the city, but it started to downpour after our second stop, and we decided to take refuge in a pub and wait for the match to start.

Unfortunately Ireland lost to England, which was truly depressing, but it was still an amazing day! The parade is tomorrow, so when I get a chance (which might not be for two weeks) I'll post pictures from that! 

London, England

Kylea and I on Westminster Bridge on the way to the Eye

View of Parliment and Big Ben from the Eye

Kylea and I on the Eye

View from the Eye

Veiw of London Harbour from the Eye

Me in front of Downing Street, the whole security gate is kinda lame, you can't even get a decent picture

In front of Westminster Abbey, where so many amazing people are burried. It was so cool to see the graves of Queen Elizabeth I, Queen Mary, Mary Queen of Scots, Henry VI,VII,andVIII, Handle, etc. Also-they actually still have daily services, which is really cool.

BIG BENN!! 

Parliament

View from the back of Parliament of Westminster Bridge and the Eye

Some guards at the Citadel, practicing marching, and they kept messing up, and the drill sergeant would yell and they would have to go do it again. it was pretty great. 

The memorial statue to Queen Victoria in front of Buckingham Palace.

The gates at Buckingham Palace

Kylea and I infront of Buckingham Palace, I was so disappointed, that there were no guards in red suits with the big funny hats that you get to mess with and make pictures of! 

The obligatory red phone booth photo, that every american who ever goes to England has to make.

Kylea and I with one of  the horse guards, who cant talk, or move, its pretty funny. 

Princess Diana Memorial Walk through King James Park, which is absolutely gorgeous. 

Me in King James Park--isn't it pretty?! 

A traditional English breakfast, Sausage, beans, toast, "bacon" (which is really more like fried ham, so I guess Canadian Bacon), musrooms, and roasted tomatoes!

Enjoying beans on toast! 

Yea, so you know how in Mary Poppins, the boy takes his money to feed the birds, a tuppance, a tuppance? well. you can't do that anymore. The British government decided it was illegal. Way to kill all the fun, Parliament,

Trafalgar Sqaure! Smack dab in the heart of London! 

Kylea and I in front of the fountain in Trafalgar Sqaure

The Lovely girls who let us stay with them! Katie, Liz and Amy! Kaite and Liz are actually visiting us this weekend for St. Patricks Day!

Traditional Mind the Gap sign found in the Tube stations. 

I love that they call the ATMs Holes in the Wall! 

Although it has taken me almost a full week, finally here are pictures from London! 

I LOVED London! It was absolutely amazing! The weather while we were there was gorgeous and sunny, and seeing Big Ben, Parliament, and riding the Eye was absolutely wonderful! I feel like the pictures really say it all! 

Northern Ireland

so, firstly, you should probably be warned that I had all of these pictures in Order, and then when I uploaded them, they got all randomized, so...sorry. But this is what is know as the Peace Wall, or the wall that separates the Catholic and Protestant communities in Belfast

They really dislike Bush over hear, they are like also really interested in the upcoming elections, and pretty much the first thing they ask you after they find out you are American is "Hilary or Obama"

Us with our Black Taxi that took us to the Catholic and Protestant Communities in Belfast

A mural thats in the Protestant Communities 

This is the scariest Mural...the gun will follow you wherever go, even straight down.

A mural in the protestant community of Oliver Cromwell, whom they love, and the Catholics in Ireland hate

The peace wall. 

This sign was copied from the sign that hung in Berkley during the Vietnam war, that said you are now entering Free Berkley. Derry is one of the most violent areas during the Troubles, and was the sight of Bloody Sunday

This is a mural in Derry of Bloody Sunday, and it shows a priest waving a white flag, carrying a body through the crowd. 

This is a mural of Burnadette Devlin who was the youngest person to ever be elected to Parlimnet, she was 21. 

This is actually a picture of the Scots Presbyterian church in Derry. James Monroes ancestors used to go here, and who knows, maybe some of the Ervins who were on the Ulster plantation went here too, 

Me sitting in the head chair of the Town council of Derry, This building was blown up by the IRA during the troubles, the only thing that survived a statue of Queen Victoria, which to this day, still stands in the building.  Also-the guy who blew the building up, is now a member of parliment. 

This is giants causeway, it is rumored to be made by the Giant Finn MacCool. 

Kylea and I on the rocks at Giants Causeway

A view of Belfast City hall and the Belfast Wheel.

Again

I though it was funny, that this was the Belfast Tourist Information center, so I had to make a picture

The beach at Port Rush, which is absolutely gorgeous and the waves are so huge, that it is considered the place to Surf in Ireland.

The Beach Again.

Dunluce Castle

Me in front of Dunluce castle, which was inhabited until the Kitchen fell into the sea! 

Emily, Kylea and I at the rocks on Giants causway, it was so windy, and slippery, that I was scared I was going to fall and die. haha, but I didnt, so thats good.

This past weekend we visited Northern Ireland. 

IT WAS AMAZING.

The countryside is actually one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen in my whole life, and the history is extremely interesting. It was also neat, because Ervins have some ties to N. Ireland, ad we lived there for a while in between leaving  Scotland.  

I definitely think that everyone should go to N. Ireland at least once, because it is just so 

completely different, there are times when in Belfast, you could swear you must be in the West Bank security is so high, and everything is so segregated, but the surrounding areas are absolutely beautiful.