I had never heard of the Blarney Castle or Blarney stone, but I guess Nicholas had a Blarney stone at his school so he wanted to see it. So we went.
And I kissed the stone. We got on a tour bus at Cobn (pronounced Cove) and then we pushed past tourists and ran towards the castle to beat the line. Apparently the usual lineup to kiss the stone was something ridiculous. Lucky for us we were among the first there so it wasn’t too bad. One by one we streamed single file up the castle tower.
Up we went towards the stone, which was situated on the outside of the castle meaning you had to lie down, bend over backwards to kiss some stone on the outside.
Then it was my turn. I was getting ready to scoot down as the fellow who helped the stone kissers said to Nicholas – “Would you like me to hold your Teddy?”
It took me a second to realize he was referring to me. I’m no Teddy, mister. But whatever, you can hold me so I can kiss the stone.
And then I kissed the stone. I felt the same afterwards.
Nick and Pokin also kissed the stone. They sound about the same afterwards.
So we were docked in Portland, UK today. We heard word that there was a castle to see in the vicinity so we got on a bus to go see it. I wanted ideas for my eventual castle.
This was their idea of a castle.
They wanted £5. We got back on the bus.
My bud wasn’t impressed. Neither was I. We’d seen better in France and in video games. So we took another bus to Weymouth instead.
Here we found a tea shop. And being the civilized bear that I am, I indulged in a pot of tea with some scones and clotted cream.
It was no hot cocoa, but it was still satisfactory.
I had to learn more about these guys. Apparently their dead animal hat is called a Bearskin. OMG! They are traditionally made with Canadian Black Bears! I’m going to faint!
I decided to stalk them. Problem was that most of them are behind gates and chain fences. Something about getting harassed too much by other tourists. Simple solution! Don’t walk around with a dead animal on your head! Let alone a BEARSKIN hat! Jerks!!!
Anyway I was walking down the street and I found some! A live one within touching distance!
It took all of the restraint I had not to reach over and stroke that guy’s poor dead bear with my paw. Nicholas said not to. he said I would be arrested and he said he wouldn’t bail me out. That wasn’t nice but I wasn’t going to take chances.
So I just stood in front of them to make them feel uncomfortable. So how does it feel to have a bear staring them and their bear hat down? That smile on my face? I’m trying to creep you out, you Canadian-slaughtered-bear-wearers. Poor bears. I think I need the comfort of a hot cocoa to calm me down stat.
This is it. Quintessential London. We found a telephone box and got inside. Didn’t change into superman though, I’m confident enough in my awesomeness not to need to put on any tight spandex. Nicholas however, decided to put on a nice outfit as he rather enjoyed the London business Yuppie scene and liked watching the hordes of people loitering around pubs sipping beer outdoors.
“I could live here,” he said.
“For how long till you miss Amazon Prime?” I countered.
“Ok I’m over it already”
Smart bud.
See some real sights, you say? I did tonnes of that too! I saw the Tower of London and the gazillion remembrance poppies.
And Tower Bridge
I even observed the the London Eye and all the sucker tourists who paid to go on that thing.
Did my obligatory pose in front of Big Ben
And even pawed out good money to go see the Buckingham Palace.
Which is where I saw the guards. The Queens Guards.
These guys are strutting around with dead animals on their heads. I’m intrigued. I must learn more.
It was a wet morning that two tired people and a bear who had spent the night on a bus were dropped off at Victoria Station in London. It’s great that we were near all the major attractions but not so great that our hotel was on the other side of town. I think it was 6:00am. In any case it was too early for this bear.
Pokin wanted to take a cab. Nicholas wanted to walk. I didn’t care so long as I was being carried, but about 10 blocks into the walk the light wet drizzle turned into an outright downpour. Pokin won. We got in a cab.
Eventually many twists and turns later we landed in front of the hotel…where they couldn’t find our reservation. That was probably due to the fact that they cancelled our room last minute and changed hotel locations. Everyone was too worn out to even freak out. We just stood there while the staff figured out what to do. Eventually we got a place. A one-bedroom room – even though we were reserved for four. Plus a bear. They solved it by giving us two cots to put in the living room. They still charged us for a two bedroom apartment though. Oh and extra for the cots. And for the missed night we were on the bus instead. I sense a trend.
Whatever, I’m going back to bed. It’s someone else’s problem.
Time to head onwards to London! The morning of, we bid everyone goodbye, and Pokin promptly forgot half her suitcase worth of stuff behind. We failed at finding a gas station but succeeded in getting on a train from Avignon to Paris en route to London. Not that we actually made it to London though. Unfortunately our flights were cancelled for missing the original outbound and we were met with an error message when we tried to check in to our Air France flight.
One unfortunately drawback of the villa was that it was without internet, so Pokin and Nicholas were unable to find alternate arrangements before this moment.
So it was that we found ourselves in Paris at 5pm trying to find a way to London. The two cities look so close on the map! You figure that would be easy!
Well unfortunately flights were now $500+ a person. At least there’s the train!
Somehow nobody told the trains that they were actually an inferior method of travel and thus ought to be priced more affordably. Because it turns out tickets for travel by train the day of were also about $500 a person. Well at least we could take the bus!
We looked up information about the bus and found out there was a station about a 20 minute walk away. So we hauled suitcases towards the bus station only to find out that it would be a 9-hour bus ride. Oh and also they were sold out for that day.
Well great.
Lucky for us there was still a midnight bus available. So we had the pleasure of paying more and sitting in Paris until midnight to catch this bus.
But a midnight bus meant we missed our check in time for the London hotel. I see a trend.
Wedding day started out raining. I looked out the window and I decided I was going back to bed. Evidently Eric thought the same thing. So the groom and the bear slept in till noon while the bridesmaids lounged around and had croissants.
The weather got better around the time I decided to get up, what smart planning! So I put on my outfit and watched the brides get ready.
Then I handed myself and the camera to Cousin Anthony. During the actual wedding I made it a point to photo-bomb every appearance of everyone.
It was great. I even took the time to use the photo booth with my bud.
As far as I was concerned it was a great event. I think the bride and groom thought so too. So on that note, Congrats to Eric and PoOn!
