Last day in Paris to First day in Amsterdam

So I've been letting Ben write all these blogs because I'm a little lazy & because we all know he is a superb writer. But I miss writing so here I am. Two days ago we spent our last day in Paris with a little bit of a rushed morning. We tried to sleep in as late as possible but our sweet Asian roomies decided to get up before 7, we ignored their noise for as long as possible until we forced ourselves to get up before we missed breakfast. After breakfast we checked out of our hostel and checked into our new hotel which was actually cheaper than the hostel (for good reasons). We were so exhausted from our few days of busy Paris that we crashed until 2pm. We wanted to give Versailles another chance but decided it was too much of a hassle and after walking around the city for 2 and half hours we grabbed an early dinner in a rather sketchy Chinese restuarant. We took our time eating and leisurely walked to the Louvre because after 6pm students get in for only 6 euros. Oh wait! I almost forgot... we went to the Louvre earlier that day around 4 because we heard that if your a European under the age of 26 you get in for free. As you can assume we pretended we were British and Ben used his "perfect"British accent to talk the ticket guy into letting us in for free but the ticket guy spoke perfect english and we think he knew Ben was bluffing. We laughed a lot about it and decided to come back at 6 for the cheaper price. The Louvre is so AMAZING!!! It has the Mona Lisa, the Venus de Milo, the dying slave, and just tons of old art that was endless and fascinating. We stayed there for 2-3 hours and then decided to take a nice stroll to the Eiffel Tower because it lights up at night. On our way we were obsessed with finding a Patisserie, unfortunately none were open because it was past 8pm. On the bright side we found an English speaking restuarant that sold cheap French wine, so we grabbed a bottle and headed for the romantic center of the world. When we got there we saw a good seat but we knew we didn't want to settle until we found the perfect seat. We kept looking and kept looking until finally there was this park bench that showed every detail of the Eiffel Tower with nothing to obstruct its view. We opened the bottle, sat back, and enjoyed the magic. I've never felt so in awe, it was like every dream I ever wanted to come true. I was literally in Paris at night sitting in front of the Eiffel Tower with the LOVE of my life, drinking amazing french wine....IS THIS A JOKE???? I'm so happy!
The following day we wanted to get up early but we just couldn't so we went down late for breakfast which was advertised as FREE. So we indulged in our "free"breakast and it wasn't even good..two cheap baguettes & two small croissants. When we were done the hotel manager who also served us told us it cost an entire 10 euro! We were shocked & handed him the money because we needed to pack. When we checked out of the hotel we had a "small"confrontation with the hotel manager. Well the confrontation turned into a fight and lets just say we ran out of there but we left the hotel manager feeling really guilty "for spending our only food money for the day on his rip-off of a breakfast". After that extravaganza we traveled all day to Amsterdam. We could have taken the expensive route for 52 Euro but no we decided to take the cheap route for 6 Euro and 3 extra hours of confusing Belgian trains. When we finally got to Amsterdam we were pretty amazed by the beauty of the city. Dreadlocks abound, they put mayonaise on the fries, and there are more canals than Venice.
This morning we of course slept in. Then we caught the 1pm free tour. Our guide was pretty disgusting and even though the city is beautiful and interesting he made it seem less (lets just say he had hygeine problems). We will be starting our 3 day traveling trip to Greece tomorrow, so if we do not blog its because we are still on a ferry. Sorry about the lack of pictures apparently the Dutch keep their USB's under lock and key (our pics from the Eiffel Tower are amazing so the first opportunity we have we will post them). We are finishing our day with a big meal and just taking time to get to know Amsterdam.
Love You
Ben&Molly

Quote for the Day:
I too am not a bit tamed--I too am untranslatable, I sound my barbaric yawp over the rooftops of the world. --Walt Whitman

A relaxing day in paris

Oui Oui
how many of you are already laughing? We spent our second day in Paris today and were fortunate enough to see some wonderful things! We snagged four baguetts a piece this morning at breakfast and then decided to take the train to Versailles, taking the metro to the train station--so as not to repeat our marathon from yesterday. When we arrived at Saint-michel train station, however, we found out that Versailles (the palace of Louis XIV if you didn't know) was closed today...for some strange reason. Well, at this point we were already down in the center of Paris, very close to Notre Dame, so we decided to have a look. As we approached, we cried "Sanctuary" and ran for our lives as gypsies chased us into...oh sorry that was my imagination. In reality, we sat down out front and debated back and forth about whether to eat our bagguettes or take pictures (which I'm sorry to say haven't been able to make it onto our last two posts..more on that and the stinky guy later), and then when it began to pour the rain we went inside. As we wandered around the gigantic cathedral, we noticed several souvenier machines, some confessional booths (which are face-to-face now...weird), and a lot of rosary wielding old ladies...Momma Iva would have laughed a lot. Molly questioned the legitimacy of a church that felt Okay about selling souvenier medallions and Mary action figures, and I can't say I didn't feel the same. After Notre Dame, the rain had stopped and we finally devoured our snacks in its backyard with a cycling couple who made us laugh because they were both macho..and they were proud of it. We then decided to use our normal mode of transportation and walk to Sacre Cour, Paris' other famous church, in Montmartre--the trendiest and most northernly neighborhood of the city of lights. We arrived on the church's front steps and were immediately accosted by some men from Senegal who began weaving bracelets onto our wrists and then asked us to pay for them. Staying true to our stingy selves, we said no...then said no again...then had to say we didn't know where we would even find the money to eat tonight...so they went away. We got some ice cream and laughed about our white lie, and then climbed the steps to the beautiful church, where I got my first taste of holy water (not literally although I wanted to). The nuns sang like French birds and we loved laughing at all the funny people. Finally, we made our way through Montmartre and got to take some really cool pictures of normal French people on scooters, painting, or making out in an alley. The original Moulin Rouge was at the bottom of the hill, but as soon as we realized it was a strip club, we took off pretty quickly. The street around it was even more risque, so we briskly made our way out of the area and walked back to our hostel. Now we are on the computer of the smelly Chinese guy who I mentioned last night and he is sitting right outside enjoying a bottle of wine with the one who snores. Oh yeah, and we found out that "screams-in-her-sleep" is snorry boy's sister, but in all honesty they are really sweet people and have been so nice to let us use their computer. We tried to load our pictures from yesterday and today, on here, but everything was in Chinese so it was a no-go. We will back-load them in Amsterdam I promise. Hoping all is well at home...
Ben&Molly

Quote for the Day:
A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. --Confucius

je' m'appelle claude....ja boo beee floo.

Bonjour, comment allez-vous...everyone...
We are in Paris as of last night and have spent an amazing 36 hrs experiencing what it is to be French, or at least in France. We've had French Fries, spoken French, and French kissed...it has been tres bon!
So yesterday we left England (and I can't say I was sad to kiss the snobs at our hostel goodbye), and to do so, splurged on a metro ticket (remember our looong hike the day before?). We went through Victoria train station in the center of London, on a two hour train ride to Dover--famous for its white cliffs and being the traditional port for crossing to France. After finding an amazing deal on the ferry, thanks to our Eurail passes, we boarded the ferry...think small cruise boat complete with casino games, a restaurant, duty free shopping, etc. We ate apples from breakfast and fell fast asleep instead of indulging. After the ferry ride, we found ourselves in Calais France, a port town on the north shore, and proceeded to the train station--not by bus, as would have been the smart choice--but by...you guessed it...FOOT! We walked for about thirty minutes and finally found Gare du Calais (we thought it was a movie theater the first time we passed it) and boarded the train that left three minutes later, to Lille. From Lille train station we made our way to Paris, and now the real action of the day started. By this point, it was about 8:00 and we were both exhausted, starving, and thirsty. Due to the walking fiasco in Calais, we decided to spend the 3 euro to ride the subway to our hostel--st. christopher's. On the subway, I'm sorry to admit, I got a bit touchy and slightly nudged...Ok pushed..a frenchman (gold chain on neck and baguette in hand). He bellowed a few choice words (excuse HIS french) and then proceeded to hock a loogy at me, right there in the station! Of course I was all politeness and Christian demeanor because I've been raised right...really the nerve! Finally, we made it to the hostel, had an expensive cheeseburger each and retired to our room full of one very stinky asian, one very snory asian, one asian who screams in her sleep (no kidding) and a very nice aussie who has cool tatoos.
After a night of screaming, snoring, and stench (as I mentioned), we were happy to leave the room a bit early and load up on free carbs thanks to St. Christophers bar breakfast. While we ate, we discovered this package that looked like peach jelly on the outside but was really Chocolate heaven spread on the inside...a baguette never tasted so perfect. Of course, we stuffed several of these packages into our bag (along with several baguettes for lunch) and left on another free tour (as in previous locales). The tour was great! We were led around by Fraser from Scotland, a smoking swearing skinny man, who knew suprisingly a lot about Paris. We were able to see the Seine River, Notre Dame cathedral (I think I saw our favorite hunchback on the roof), the Eiffel Tower, the Arc de Triomphe, and even the Louvre (which we are planning on walking through on wednesday). After our tour, Molly and I fell asleep in the shade of a statue of Winston Churchill and stayed that way until around 3:30 when we decided to see some of those wonderful monuments up close. Our first stop was the eiffel tower, and Mrs. Kathy will be happy to know that we got several amazing pictures (one actually French Kissing) in front of the icon of Paris. From there, we walked to the Arc de Triomphe--a monument that Napoleon built for himself after conquering somewhere (short man syndrome if you ask Fraser)--and took several more pictures..some of which are very triumphant. Finally, we made our way to this computer by walking...that's right we walked...I know you're suprised. It was the longest walk I have ever experienced, so long that it took a good 3 hours and brought us from one end of France's biggest city to the other. We were famished about half way and happened to find this questionable thai restaurant selling pork raviollis cooked in a microwave from the 80s with orange rice...for only 4 euros! So we split it, and although I'm sure I ate some paper and dragon skin somewhere in there, we are full and the hot sauce made it taste good...or at least spicy. We finished our walk and are now a bit slap-happy as I'm sure you can tell. Our night is about to be concluded on the banks of the Seine wearing barets and drinking champagne! au revoir mes amies.
Ben&Molly

Quote for the Day:

Have you ever been to France?... I have travelled through several of its provinces. In some of which half the population are lunatics, whereas in others they are too cunning by half; in some parts they are quite good-natured and rather simple-minded, while in others they cultivate their wits. But wherever you go, the principal occupation is love, the second is spreading scandal, and the third is talking nonsense. --Voltaire

Brighton

hello all...
I'm quite tired at the moment and Molly's already asleep (or reading twilight maybe). I'm up preparing for our journey to Paris tomorrow via Dover port in South England. Speaking of South England, we took the hour train to Brighton Beach today, as you see in the pretty pictures, and enjoyed some time in about the most layed back way you can in up-tight England.
Once again we woke up a bit late today (just sooo tired!), and decided to go visit the only beach worth visiting in jolly old England (because we aren't too fond of the people in our hostel and wanted to keep it cheap today without hanging around with them). So, with the thought that we'd use our Britrail passes (free train travel), and have a day in the sun, we set off for Paddington station after stuffing as much breakfast as possible into our stomachs and bag. After about 40 minutes (a new record!), we arrived, only to find out that: first, London has more than one train station...and second, that Victoria is the one we should have been trying to get to. A seven mile walk in total, we finally made it to the right train and made our way to the beach. Think Huntington Beach in California without so many skateboarders, with a few more tea shops and sweaters...it was awesome! we took some sweet pictures, hung around (not in) the water for a while and had a heart-to-heart on the rocky beach, and then walked down the boardwalk where vendors of every color and size were selling knick-knacks. Finally, our hunger got the better of us and we found a 2 for 6.95£ deal at Yate's restaurant..it was...good. Now gratefully full, we made our way back to London, rewalked the 7 miles and here I sit, exhaustedly poking out the ingredients of this blog post. Wow I must love you guys. No, I do. Tomorrow we're headed to Paris via a train, a ferry, and another train and I'm anticipating messing things up somehow so pray for me.
Ben&Molly
Quote for the Day
The whole strength of England lies in the fact that the enormous majority of the English people are snobs --George Bernard Shaw

London

We woke up and got a filling breakfast before we headed off for our big day in London. While ben went to exchange money I decided to grab 4 Croissants & 4 apples from our free breakfast line & shove them in our bag for a later snack. After breakfast we hopped on the tube (the subway) to Hyde Park where we joined a free tour of London, the royal side. Through the tour we were able to see the changing of the guards, Buckingham Palalce, Big Ben, Trafalgar Square, and Westminster Abbey. There were many stops along the way where we learned the history of London's Royalty. We even got to see the home of King Henry VIII, Winston Chrchill, and Nell Gwyn.
When the tour ended we decided to cross the River Thames and look for the tube to go to Cheap side where the Globe Theater is located. Once we reached Cheap side we walked through a street of perfection. There was food on every corner & a market that had free samples of cheese, breads & dips, more cheese, & things I've never heard of. Ben got his first taste of Turkish Delight & it was beyond expectations, lets just say Heaven in your mouth. After we walked through the market we came to a river front sidewalk that led to the Globe Theater. After OOOing & Awwwing we went in to get tickets for Romeo & Juliet but unfortunately the show was at 2pm & not at 7pm like we thought. Even though it was a bummer we chose to use the money towards better things like food and MORE turkish delights!
After filling our hungry bellies full of Paela & Chorizo, the Croissants, & the Turkish Delight we decided to go to a little place called Camden. Camden is basically a mix between China Town, The Highlands, and every punkers dream. There were crazy vendors on every street corner, many selling t-shirts, my favorite was a shirt from the movie The Goonies, it was a picture of Sloth and it said Sloth Loves Chunk! It reminded me of home & made me laugh a little. We got tired of being harrassed on the street so we slipped into a bookstore and read random book covers until we were tired and decided to head back to the hostel.
London is pretty great but if you ever come here be prepared for big crowds, busy people, and lots of tourists. The tube is full of pushy people & it is very simialr to NYC but a tad bit busier. A funny thing is the performers in the tube. We heard a Jamican style man playing Bob Marley 'No Woman No Cry' today & it made us laugh because we thought about that one night Ben & Adam decided to play the guitar & the bongos at 3 in the morning singing No Woman No Cry at the top of their lungs (Sam & Carley remeber it too well)!
We like our hostel in the sense that the atmosphere is nice, the beds are warm, the breakfast is Free, but on the downside the people we have met thus far here are WEIRD!!! We think there are like third graders staying here or something because we see young kids running around everywhere. The showers & bathrooms are all co-ed & the people aren't very nice about it. Plus Ben doesn't like dropping logs while girls are in the same room as him. Overall everything is AMAZING! We are honestly having the time of our lives & we love to laugh at all the random new people we meet. We migth head to Brighton Beach tomorrow or we might just sleep in and check London's east side, who knows!
We love you
Ben&Molly

P.S. The picture at the top where Molly looks CRAZY is for her dad, he wanted her to get a pic acting goofing infront of the guards. Unfortunately they changed the rules and this was as close as she could get. It was still fun! Love you pops!!!

Quote for the Day:
So this was told by our tour guide today..."Winston Churchill has had a few too many brandies at a very ritzy party, and one of the wives of a member of Parliament has just been snubbed after trying to talk politics with him. Offended, she says, Sir if I was your wife I would poison your tea! Churchill looks at her for a moment and then slurs in response, If I was your husband, madame, I would drink that tea!" --Churchill/ Anna the tour guide

the bird and the baby

Oi, cheers everyone,
Still in England, in fact we've just had our first real day in London and it was great! This is Big Ben speaking...and I want to start off by thanking everyone who's admitted to reading this thing, and kept in contact, because we would be a bit homesick by now without that! That's not to say we're hurting for Louisville after only a week and some, but it's getting a little empty in my belly and everyone speaks differently...We just miss you guys.
Now that the mushy part is over, here's what happened on thursday the 21st of May. Let's go backwards for a change. We've just entered the hostel and plopped down at the computer, which is free, a great change. After checking our facebooks and getting several encouraging, gushing messages, I'm writing the blog and Molly is...wait a minute...oh still looking at facebook. ha. Ok so before we got to the hostel, we had a 3 mile walk from Paddington station (the namesake of paddington bear). During the rather cold walk(we forgot sweatshirts), we saw a fox on the sidewalk, and didn't get lost for once! We were coming from Paddington because we had taken an hour long train ride from Oxford --the famous college that I convinced everyone I know I was going to for a while. ha again. Anyway, at Oxford, we walked around the oldest college town in the world (mentioned in the Canterbury Tales for crying out loud), saw a LOT of preppy boys that looked like Prince William, and ended up at the Eagle and Child Pub. The "Bird and the baby", as it's known to Oxfordians, is this quaint little pub on gyles street boasting mostly beer battered things to eat, and bad beer and things to drink. Fish and chips flowed like milk and honey, and we were even able to sneak a peak at the Rabbit Room, the famous meeting spot of the Inklings (C. S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkein, etc) during the 20s and 30s. I was in heaven. Before we went to Oxford, we slept in until about 1 oclock--thanks to running all over in the rest of Great Britain and Ireland--with only a brief wake up for free breakfast. I'm a little confused at this point, but I think that covers it mostly.
watch out for ballocks
Ben&Molly

Quote for the Day:
I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: ‘I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept His claim to be God.’ That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic–on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg–or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse -C.S. Lewis

Unexpected Friends & Stonehenge Rocks

Hello love,
So we slept in on tuesday & left Scotland for Bath England at around 11 am. We pretty much traveled on the train all day until 6p.m. When we got there all we wanted to do was eat, so we checked into our hostel as quickly as possible. When we went to our room we met 2 new roommates. The guy was Dan, a professional musician that lives in New Orleans. He was super talkative and hilarious! The girl was Zoe, a Canadian who has been traveling Europe for 3 months. She was totally helpful & gave us tons of tips for the road. After meeting them we grabbed a bite to eat at Solo, this posh Itlaian place that was surprisingly inexpensive & tasty! After eating we hung out in our hostel's lounge where we met up with Dan & Zoe. For the rest of the night we laughed & made jokes, exchanged stories, & pretty much just had a blast getting to know great people. We took the party up to our room because we were all in the same place & laughed about our other roommmates, a couple from California & 2 mystery girls that Dan thought would definitely be the loves of his life, judging by their suitcases (straighteners and twilight books strewn about). Turns out the girls weren't the love of his life & we laughed until we finally fell asleep. We all woke up at the same time & ate breakfast together.
The tour to stonehenge is 14 pounds for the bus ride and 6 pounds to enter the actual site. We decided that was overpriced and we wanted a cheaper way. So instead, this morning, we took a train to a Salisbury, which turned out to be a cute little city, then we hopped onto a bus to Aimesbury. At Aimesbury we decided to walk a little over 2 miles along a highway to Stonehenge. We saved about 20 pounds and we got to enjoy the beautiful country side of England while we walked.
(Ben here now): Stonehenge basically made me drool because it was awesome and reminded me of every nerdy book on Merlin that I've ever read! Basically Stonehenge rocks!(PUN INTENDED). As we approached the 12000 year old stone circle, surrounded by wooly sheep and smelly tourists, you could feel the magic in the air, and after the two mile walk Molly mentioned, we were happy to pay the 12 pounds to get in. As we walked around the circle we were provided with an audio guide that told us all about the history and the make up of the ancient site. Apparently, the 45 ton stones (the weight of 16 elephants) were either carted all the way from Wales to Aimesbury in southern England by prehistoric strong men, OR as I choose to believe, they were brought there as a commemoration of an ancient battle by Merlin himself! They line up with the sun, and on the summer solstice, create this magical shaft of light that would make a bald man's hairs stand on end. (see pics below)
After Stonehenge, we made our way back to Salisbury by bus. As we walked through the town Ben decided he was hungry for everything. So we got a luch special at Dominos and split a 7 inch pizza that only cost 2 pounds. He then decided he was still hungry and made me stop in Mr. Simms Olde Sweet Shoppe. We got a chocolate banana and a bunch of gummies that added up to be 1 pound. That candy shop was pretty much the most amazing place we have ever been! We had some time to kill before we headed back to Bath so we layed on the neatly cut grass in front of the Cathedral. All the locals go there to hang out and it was very entertaining. We relaxed & got some sun for about 30 minutes & took the train back to Bath. Once we were in BAth we got our bags and got back on the train to London. On the way to the station we had the chance to see Dan again & say our goodbyes & good-lucks.
We are in London now and our hostel is so AMAZING!!! It has free internet, free breakfast, all hard wood floors, double beds, cool people. We got a sandwich for dinner for only 2 pounds which is nice.
We are not sure who is reading this because the blog will not let us read comments or allow comments to be posted so if you have any words of encouragement or just that you're reading this thing & we are not writing it in vain give us a shout on facebook!
We LOVE you all so much,
Ben&Molly

Quote for the Day:
Don't be afraid to go on the odd wild goose chase, that's what wild geese are for! -- Bear Grylls.

Story Time

Hello All,
Today we spent a rainy Monday in Edinburgh, but loved every minute of it. We started the day with an 80 Pence breakfast at our hostel, which consisted of really thick milk covering some cocoa-puffish cereal. After that, Molly fell back asleep for a little bit and I dove into a Bear Grylls book that I am loving and hoping I can get him to sign when he calls me to hang out in England. After our "nap", we left Castle Rock to go see if we could find some cheap knick-knacks, and ended up finding a free walking tour that was led by a man in a pink hat named Grant. Cheerful and dramatic, Grant guided us through Edinburgh's history, it's architecture, and even it's ghosts, leaving us with some amazing stories, two of which I'll share now.

Our first story is about a little white dog named Greyfriar Bobby (see pic). Bobby was owned by a nightwatchman at Greyfriar cemmetary, who aquired him because at that time, nightwatchmen were required to own and be accompanied by a dog. Even though Bobby was a tiny little fluff, he followed the watchman through the cemmetary loyally and until his owner died lived happily as a ferocious police companion. When the watchman died, two years later, Bobby was left to wander the graveyard. He sat on his master's grave everyday for a week, and then a month, and then fourteen years, eventually dying--having stayed with his master in Greyfriars every day of his life. Now Bobby is commemorated with the statue that you see (the most photographed one in Edinburgh), and a gravestone that reads "May his loyalty inspire us all".

Next, we have a story that is a bit less PG. Maggie Dickinson was a poor, but reasonably upstanding citizen, when her husband left her and she was forced to find a job in the house of a local nobelman. She took a liking to the nobelman's son, who also liked her, and eventually became pregnant by him. To save herself from certain punishment (for adultry), she hid the pregnancy for seven months, continuing to work hard in the nobelman's house. The work soon wore on Maggie and when her pregnancy progressed too far to stand it, she miscarried. Maggie took the body to the Leithe River to toss her dead baby in, but could not do it and dug a shallow grave by the River's shore. The next day, with Scottish weather being what it is, the grave melted away to reveal the child's body, and Maggie's secret was eventually discovered. She was arrested and condemned to hang for adultry. The story goes on to recount how at her hanging, she was pronounced dead, loaded into a herse, and as the herse driver sped her to the graveyard, she sat up exclaiming that she was not dead. Because Scottish law supports double jeopardy, she was allowed to go free--eventually marrying the nobelman's son, bearing him four children and living for forty more years. We ate dinner in the pub that she went on to own, tonight.

Tonight we're hanging out in the hostel with everyone here, and are hoping to make it to Bath tomorrow, if the trains of Britain permit.
We love you all so much.
Ben&Molly

Quote for the day:
rain rain go away--children's song.
see pics below***

Edinburgh

Hey Everybody!
I am currently sitting in the "quiet lounge" of our new hostel, Castle rock. The rest of the hostel seems to be dedicated to drinking, watching movies, kissing on the couch, drinking, pool, or sipping. Not kidding. But in all honesty, we really love it here, it has suits of armour on the stairs, paintings of dragons and other scottish things, and even a movie room (which I've already mentioned).
We arrived in Scotland today after a bus ride, a ferry ride (which we almost snuck onto but got caught because I'm a chicken), and two train rides (which we actually snuck onto because we're awesome). Edinburgh turned out to be the most amazing place either of us has been thus far, and if we hadn't have been really tired and hungry when we arrived, I would have probably danced and maybe bought a kilt or something. Hopefully that will come tomorrow. we explored the city as we walked to our hostel, which is across from Edinburgh Castle, then ventured down to a little shop that claimed to be "the best family owned restaurant in Scotland" it was great...Burgers as big as my head (and we all know that's pretty huge). After that we went and climbed this mountain called Arthur's seat, (I'm assuming like King Arthur's throne, but someone's bum may have inspired the name for all we know). The hike took about two hours, and we got to experience some amazing views including 360 degrees of Edinburgh skyline, some huge cliff faces and a nice glimpse of the ocean. I even got to rock climb a bit which was great. Chocolate was a great capstone for the night, as we stopped and bought a "take away" brownie from a local shop, and took it away--to our hostel--for a snack while watching a movie. We now find ourselves using a drunk girl's laptop, sitting next to an asian guy. Tomorrow we are planning on sleeping in for the first time this trip and then taking our time exploring this amazing city.
We love you all and apologize that we cannot figure out how to view your comments...or maybe you just don't care to comment...anyway
Ben&Molly

Quote for the day:
FFFRRRREEEEEDDDDDOOOOOMMMMMM! --William Wallace

see pics at the bottom too****

Belfast

dear family & friends,
Sorry we missed a couple of days on posting but we have been so busy. We left Dublin on Friday & we had some interesting roommates our last night in Paddy's Palace. One guy was a native to Ireland and his name was Paddy, he told us funny stories and we stayed up talking to him & laughing a lot. Our other roomie for the night was from Greece, Alexandros, he biked all the way from North IRL to South IRL in 4 days. He is now our contact when we reach Athens!
We took a bus to Belfast (North IRL) and got to our hostel at 10 am. It was very quaint almost like a little home. We were greeted with coffee & cookies! From there we headed to Belfast Castle (see pic). It was a beautiful castle & while we toured it there was a wedding going on.
After the castle we decided to visit the home that C.S. Lewis grew up in, Little-Lea! Although it was private property we got a close personal look of the inspiration he got to write the Narnia series. We even saw the lamp post (Mr.Tumnis) that was in his front yard!
We were pretty exhausted from all the traveling so we took a quik nap (3hours) and were luckily woken up with our new roommates, a French couple who pretended to speak english but actually knew none at all.
We were starving and looked for a restuaruant for a while & had no luck, we almost gave up & went to a pizza hut. Then we stumble upon this awesome place that was super cheap & was pretty much the best food ever! After our great dinner we weren't tired so we saw a movie & talked to some locals while we waited in the long ticket line.
Overall Belfast rocked. We left Arnie's Backpackers Hostel at 5:30 am this morning to take a ferry to Scotland!

We love you
Ben&Molly

Quote for the day:
All you need is love -- The Beatles.

see pics at bottom too ***

A day trip to Cork

So we had this hairbrained idea to get on a bus and take a little trip to southern Ireland in Cork. We didn't really plan on doing this but we thought it would be fun so we went with it. After a 4 and 1/2 hour bus ride we made it. We got on another bus to go see the Blarney castle & kiss the blarney stone. Once we got there we met a couple from Knoxville & the husband was actually originally from bowling green. We absolutley loved the castle! It was surrounded by lush green grass and beautiful flowers. There were not a lot of people there so it was very relaxing to just walk the grounds and enjoy the view of the Irish country side. The castle was built in the 1400's and most of the details were still intact. We climbed up a very high spiral staircase to reach the roof of the castle where the Blarney stone was located. We layed on our backs one at a time, leaned back, & kissed the same stone that Winston Chirchill kissed & the same stone Queen Elizabeth named!
I also found out some more fun information about my family name. Dad always told me there was a Magee island & even though i wanted to believe him i never really did, until today the fact was confirmed. I read that the Magee island is on the east coast of Ireland & there is also the Magee University there!
Last night we finally met the mystery man who is sleeping in our room. His name is Nathan & he is from Canada. He was enthusiastic & so much fun to chat with. We also have another roommate, her name is Arty. She too is from Canada and has given us so great travel tips & couple of good laughs. We can only hope that our future roomies are this great!
As we were traveling today & had the opportunity to see the gorgeous country side of Ireland we were reminded of God's glory & no matter where we are He will always be a constant in our life!
We love you all more than you know!
Ben&Molly

Quote for the day:
A journey is like marriage. The certain way to be wrong is to think you control it. -- John Steinbeck

see pictures at the butt of this page***

The Dublin Streets

hello love,
WOW!!! Dublin is such an amazing city. We woke up today by the cursing of a mystery man who slept in our room but we never got a close look at him. We ate a free delicious breakfast as we waited for the arrival of our bags. After we recieved our bags we headed out for a day in the Dublin streets.
We saw a huge statue of a hand and it was neat. We traveled to the beautiful campus of Trinity college to see the Book of Kells the first Bible translated by Irish monks in the year 800. After that we stumbled upon Christ Church Cathedral. Our favorite cathedral was of course St. Patrick's, unfortunately it cost money to tour so we enjoyed the outside & the first few steps of the inside. After that we walked to St. Kevin's church that was built in year 800, we took fun pictures and enjoyed the green landscape. We got a cup of hot coffee at starbucks as we laughed at the locals and planned for the rest of our day. After that we came across a coat of arms store--Magee was a popular name. The owner told me about my family line and our noble heritage. The book told him that the Magee's were Archbishop's of Dublin, one Magee was the Earl of Cork, and that John Magee (that's my dad's name!!!) was one of the most famous writers in all of Dublin.
One of our favorite things today was walking down Grafton street (pretty much a shopping strip in the heart of the city) and coming across 12 year old local twin brothers that were perfroming live. They had two guitars and a small crowd. We heard them play everything from the Goo Goo Dolls to Jeff Buckley. It was one of the best concerts I've been to.
We ate a free dinner here in the Hostel--Paddy's Palace were we met some college student's from Limerick. We plan to head to Temple Bar for a black one and live local music!!!
Love you,
Ben&Molly

Quote for the Day:
We look at the world once in childhood, the rest is memory. --- Louise Gluck

see picture below***

In Dublin's fair city...

well...we made it to dublin, but it was quite the experience. At the risk of all of you saying "I told you so," We'll give a quick summary. we made it to Chicago well, but our tickets were printed by American Airlines, so we just assumed that we would be flying AA the whole way... you know what they say about assuming. Long story short, we were supposed to have been on Aer Lingus and missed our flight! we ended up sprinting about 19 miles through O'hare and finally talked American Airlines into letting us on their flight an hour later (i think because I offered a kiss if she could help us). As I'm sure you'd expect, we've decided since then that the ordeal was my fault (Ben) and that I must ask for directions no matter what. Our bags have still not made it...oh ya, they made us check our backpacks too. we spent the day in dublin, bought molly a pair of thrift store pants to supplant her flying shorts, got accosted by a Hungarian selling brochures on yoga, and are finally dry and warm at Paddy's palace where we payed a Euro to talk to you fine people. Keep us in your prayers, obviously we need them. From Chilly beautiful Ireland, we love you all!
Ben&Molly

Quote for the day:
I have nothing to offer the world but my own confusion--Jack Kerouac

Plane

We board the plane @ 4:50 p.m. today preferably with a nice cup of hot coffee in hand! Love you & see you in 42 days. 

Ben&Molly

Quote for the day:

The world is a book & those who do not travel read only one page. -- St. Augustine

We Leave Tomorrow

Well folks, we leave tomorrow and hopefully this blog can be used for all of us to communicate with each other. Leave comments, look at our pictures, read our witty quotes and sayings, make fun if you want, but most importantly, keep us in your prayers as we go on this crazy adventure. We Love You All!

Ben&Molly

Quote for the day:

Not all who wander are lost --J.R.R. Tolkein