Our Ten-Day Adventure continued bright and early on Wednesday morning, when we sprinted to the Dublin tram station only to have the tram run late and drop us at the bus station as our bus of choice was lumbering away... that is pretty much the story of our lives during ten-day. So we indulged ourselves in a brief we-hate-transportation spaz-out session, and then moved on to hail a taxi to take us to our ferry. Only a little bit lighter in the purse, we made it to the ferry port in plenty of time and settled down in the luxurious cruise-liner-esque "Jonathan Swift" ferry for a couple hours.
As we sailed away we all mourned the leaving of tranquil green Ireland. We clambered up to the top deck of the stately vessel to revel in the rough beating of the chill autumnal wind that carried the scent of the sea towards us. We were all laughing and probably looked really ridiculous... who else would be so amused with wind? My hair band got torn off and danced away on the wind, leaving me behind in favor of the Emerald Isle's chilly bay. I feel like I left more than just my hairband behind in Ireland... a little bit of my heart belongs there too, with the serene countryside and the friendly locals.
After a swift jaunt on the ferry we arrived in Holyhead, Wales. We caught a train to Liverpool and spent the next few hours surveying the hilly countryside and rocky beaches of Wales... gorgeous!!! Also we passed through the town with the longest name in the world. CRAZY!!! Someday I want to learn Welsh, but I have a feeling it will take quite a while ;-D
When we arrived in Liverpool, home of the Beatles, we rushed to our Magical Mystery Tour... this was the part we were most concerned about making, with the time crunch and all. In some sort of convoluted twist of fate, we made it with time to spare and no need to run. It figures. Marie met up with us for the tour and joined us for the ensuing leg of our journey... 10-Day England. She and Peter definitely had the greatest appreciation for Liverpool and the Magical Mystery Tour. After the tour we settled into our hostel. Peter discovered a broken down piano and banged out the most beautiful improvisation I have ever experienced... such a tune is not merely heard, but experienced with your whole self... the music just draws you in and spits you out in a state of bliss. ;-D Heather also discovered a really cool book on the book exchange shelf called "The Shack." We spent the evening curled up with the book and our journals while Peter, Anna, and Marie headed out to a special Beatles pub.
The next morning Peter went on another tour (this time he made it into John Lennon's bathroom), Marie did some shopping, and the rest of us ran for a bus to Stratford-upon-Avon. We made it in time to get to the Courtyard Theater to check for tickets to that night's opening performance of Twelfth Night. There were still tickets available for a pretty good price. Woohoo!!! So we got to see the Royal Shakespeare Company put on Twelfth Night in Shakespeare's birthplace!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was soooooooo good! I think Heather's favorite part (judging by the degree of her almost-silent laughter) was when Malvolio came on in his yellow stockings. It was more funny to see her cracking up than the actual act was!
That evening we spent the night in a nice hostel (the only hostel) in Stratford-upon-Avon. In the morning we woke up to an amazing breakfast and some confusion (again) over the bus schedule. Too bad for us it wasn't a holiday... buses have weird and confusing schedules that are all against us! This made us miss our bus of choice to Oxford, so we toodled around Stratford for a while... we discovered Shakespeare's birthplace (Peter asked about it: "What is that shabby looking place across the street?") and some yummy ice cream.
After spending some time wandering around we finally set off for Oxford. It was a beautiful crisp fall day and Oxford fit right into the color scheme. After checking into our hostel we set off for Mass at St. Aloysius, where Tolkien used to attend Mass. It was so beautiful, both the church and the service... simple yet magnificent. It also made me really happy when they used the altar rail for communion. Peter made sure to touch every pew, just in case Tolkien had touched them. Then we headed over to The Eagle & Child, the pub the Inklings (Tolkien, Lewis, and others) met at regularly. We had dinner and it was delicious and not too expensive!!! N.B. If you ever go to the Eagle & Child, look in the guest book for our entry on 16. October 2009.
The next day we explored the literary sights of Oxford. We started out with Wolvercote Cemetery, where Tolkien and his wife were buried. Their headstone said "Beren and Luthien" under their names... which prompted a brief recap of the Beren and Luthien story for Heather and myself, who had not read the story before. We sang "Into the West" and watered the flowers. It was a more moving experience than any of us had anticipated. Then we headed over to Tolkien's house, which is privately owned by some random person, who kindly let us take a picture by the front door. All the while Peter had been making his Hobbit book a second-degree relic by touching it to Tolkien's grave and his front door.
Then we headed off to Magdalen College, where Lewis taught and where Addison's Walk is located. This path through the college grounds was the site for many a long chat between Tolkien and Lewis, and one particular conversation that led to Lewis' conversion. Tolkien wrote a poem about the event, called "Mythopoeia," which I read aloud. "I would that I might with the minstrels sing, and stir the unseen with a throbbing stream..." It was an amazing experience! Then we lightened the mood a bit with our discovery of a phone booth tucked away in one of the Harry Potter-ish halls... all five of us girls crammed into it while Peter posed pushing the door shut for a hilarious photo shoot! We got a lot of funny glances from the people passing by ;-)
After that we did a little scouting and discovered Narnia... first we found C.S. Lewis' house (this was all under the careful guidance of Peter, who scouted out locations and directions, despite adversity from GoogleMaps and the free internet), beside which was a little path leading off into the woods, glowing with the fiery hues of autumn. The leaves crunched under our feet as we tramped through the woods and around the large pond that inspired the Narnia series. It was quite the surreal experience, and the brisk fall day was perfect for it!
To our chagrin we had run out of time to visit the burial site of C.S. Lewis, and we headed off to St. Aloysius again for Vigil Mass. On the way we ran across a street with the laughter-inducing name of Toot Hill Butts... I really wonder what the street-naming people were thinking. Afterwards we went to the Eagle & Child again for one last meal in merry old England. We celebrated Anna's birthday (we tried to surprise her, but it didn't really work) with some chocolate cake and a golden scarf and some hearty English meat pies. Heather's bear, Smokey, overdosed a little on the cider ;-D He recovered well though; he has a quick-recovering constitution ;-)
After dinner we ran for the bus again, and thus followed a string of amazingly coincidental well-wrought circumstances that contrived to get us to the airport on time for once!!! We spent the night snuggling up to British tile, which was a bit more welcoming than the Belgian tile had been, and woke up early to go through security and get on our way back to Gaming. As we were scurrying down the hallway to our flight gate, Peter (in conjunction with Bruce, the paper traveling buddy we never saw) decided to redecorate the airport with his ... ahem... undergarments. He said the gray walls just needed a little white to brighten them up ;-D
Everything worked out and after 10 days with 5 or 6 people and 47 modes of transportation, we made it home!!!! ALLELUIA!!! ALLELUIA!!! ALLELUIA!!!
(check back later for pictures... it might take a few days to compile pictures from everyone, at which point I will actually post the best of them)
