July Holidays
Posted by Ashley on July 10th, 2004Well, Bryce set off for his Theological Students Conference after church on Sunday 27 June. I stuck around Edinburgh until Tuesday morning when I took the train up to the Crocketts’ in Banchory. Kerry wasn’t feeling all that well and the weather was pretty rainy most of the week, so we mainly just hung out around their house, went to Crathes Castle gardens (see pictures here) and watched movies. Wednesday night the Hales returned from their few days playing golf at Royal Dornock, which they thoroughly enjoyed. I got a little bit of work done.
Friday morning I went to Aberdeen airport with the Hales and flew to Dublin, after quequeing for way too long to pay money since our baggage was over 15 kgs each (grrr, RyanAir). We arrived safely and took “Vito” (our huge blue Mercedes boxed people carrier, ie huge van) north to Portmarnock, where the Hales were to play golf that day. We checked into our rooms and I promptly had a bath, played around with the surround sound radio in the room and waited for Bryce to arrive. After he got there and the Hales returned and after a cocktail in the lounge, we had a fabulous dinner with great service (something you don’t find too readily in Scotland) at Vinny Vannuchi’s in nearby Malahide.
The following morning we went into Dublin for the bus tour–not all that fab this time around. We then drove about 6 hours to the far southwest coast of Ireland, the Ring of Kerry, with the Crocketts arriving that morning and driving just an hour behind us. It was beautiful, something out of a fairy tale–green hills running right down into a blue sea. We stayed at the Butler Arms Hotel, where John’s golf buddy Tiger stays. We were unexpectedly upgraded to suites and enjoyed living in luxury for two nights. Bryce, Kerry, and I went horseback riding for our Fourth of July celebrations. Carter and the kids went hunting for leprechans and Carter sang “America the Beautiful” at the top of his lungs from the top of a hill facing America. John and Sally played golf. We enjoyed dinner at a nearby pub and watched the final Euro 2004 football game.
The next day we took another long drive back towards Dublin through the south coast. We arrived at Druid’s Glen Marriott hotel and golf course just in time for dinner. It was strange being at an upscale Marriott; I felt like I should be in the States but I was in Ireland, odd. We enjoyed the spa and pool the following day–our last full day together. I really enjoyed the steam room and sauna and even made time to use the tanning bed once (c’mon I gotta get some colour!). We played cards and Sally pretended to be our cocktail waitress and brought us drinks; it was lots of fun. Then we went to the hotel restaurant for more food and talked for quite a while about politics and the importance of the gospel in everyday life. It was emotional and good for us all to share where we are in the path of faith. We parted company the following morning and arrived in Edinburgh in time for dinner on Wednesday.
Then, Thursday morning Bryce and I took the train to Cambridge. We checked into our B and B (quite a downer after all the lovely places we’d stayed a few days earlier) and headed to the Fitzwilliam Museum (where my friend Kate works incidentally). We then popped into a pub, The Eagle, for a pint and to wait out the rain as it was raining pretty hard. We had dinner at Pizza Express and saw “Stage Beauty”, a film with Clare Danes and Billy Crudup, debuting at the Cambridge Film Festival. (It opens in Oct 2004). It was quite a long and fun day! Oh, and they have a STAPLES in Cambridge–you can’t imagine our excitement!
Friday was the blessing of the marriage of my friend Kate (whom I taught with last year) and Gareth. It was the “blessing” of their marriage as they’ve been married for the last year already; they had a civil ceremony one year ago and now had their church ceremony. The reception was lovely as it was on a riverboat that went down the River Cam and we had a nice time chatting with another American couple, who are in a similar educational situation as us. It was a lovely afternoon and without rain! After about 6 trains, we finally made it back to Edinburgh and slept in super late this morning! (All our pictures of the trip are now located on our Photos page and you can access them through the link above).