Tourist Trials

FMM: 3.5 mi
Hello, Ladies and Gents,

Hope you have your grills cleaned and your flags put away.

Photo: We met Brad and Lauren (Grice) Brown and their friend Dustin Dimetrich in downtown Dublin. Lauren and Brad live in Germany. Bunny, I'm happy to report that they are alive, well, and lookin' good.

Today I'm giving you a choice. You can read the short version of the blog, or if you're in the mood for a nice long whine, you can read the long version of the blog. Here goes.

LONG VERSION: We took a bus tour to Northern Ireland to see Giant's Causeway an area of about 40,000 interlocking basalt columns, the result of an ancient volcanic eruption. It is a World Heritage Sight. I thought my work was done when I got my husband and three teen-aged girls to the tourist office by 6:25 A.M. (That included a 1.25 mi FFM.) We waited and waited and talked to tour guides, but the Giant's Causeway bus never showed up. After repeated phoning, someone finally woke up and answered. The bus had left early that morning, thinking all were on board. They had been on the road about 30 min. Derek, the driver, was ordered to turn around. Another tour driver took pity on us and drove us half way to meet our bus. You know we were popular with the other 18 tourists when we stepped on board. Derek never offered a welcome or word of apology, and our day had begun. We didn't know that by the end of the day we would be wishing we had never managed to get on that bus.

We walked across the Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge and marveled at Giant's Causeway, took photos at Bushmills Distillery and Dunloce Castle. We started home at 3:30. We were due home at 8:00, with a stopover in Belfast. The bus broke down and we sat by the side of the road for four hours. Luckily, a certain friend who has visited me here wasn't along as there wasn't a bathroom in sight. However, we did get to know our fellow travelers. Various options were pursued as to what to do with us, but finally another bus arrived to take us back to Dublin and deposit us near city center at 1:00 AM. It was pouring down rain. Luckily, we flagged a taxi van and we walked in the door at 1:20 AM. Two boys on the trip weren't so lucky. They were staying at a hostel 30 min north of Dublin. The trains had stopped running, so their 3 euro trip home became a 50 euro taxi home. We would've felt sorry for them, except for one fact: they were from Kansas. Just kidding, of course.

SHORT VERSION:

Our tour bus left w/o us. It was NOT our fault!
The tour bus came back partway to meet us.
Everyone on board, including the driver, hated us.
We enjoyed visiting Northern Ireland sights.
The bus broke down for 4 hours.
We got a free dinner of finger sandwiches and vegetable soup, but no stop in Belfast.
We slept for hours in uncomfortable positions.
We arrived home at 1:20 AM.

The Nancy and friends finally got up and on their way at 1:30. I am doing laundry and off to buy us more food.

Touring and enduring,
I remain
Tizzie/Tiz/Tizmom/Mom/Liz/Elizabeth

P.S. Today is a special day: Blogpost # 200!