That night we enjoyed a few drinks with David and Lorraine at the Bowness hotel. Next morning was a bit showery (the first rain we had seen on our trip) as we headed for Chester for the customary mid morning stop. Chester is the sort of place you imagine an English medieval city to be. It once had a city wall (as most old English towns had) and to the left you can see a city gate. Below is a street scene from Chester. Old Tudor style buildings can be seen here.
We walked all the way around on the city wall. Most old English cities were built next to a river to provide water and a natural barrier from possible invaders. The feeling of building things to stop invaders is a new concept for those of us from Australia. As I mentioned in an earlier post, people in England and Europe have been killing each other over the last 3 thousand years! These were the times in which these cities were built. Below is another castle which was built to protect the north coast of Wales. There was a castle built every 15 kilometres or so right along the northern Wales coastline.
Next stop in Wales was this town. I will let the photo give you its name. Another Souvenir shop was here to tempt the endless line of tourists travelling to this part of the UK! I was able to stamp both our passports with the town's name stamp as a little memento of our visit. Remember to click on any photo for a larger view. To return to this page just click on the Back icon in the top left hand corner.
It is over 100kms across the Irish Sea to Ireland and we crossed by ferry. We changed our English pounds to Euros and I bought my first Guinness as we crossed the water. I am not a huge fan of Guinness myself but this stuff tasted OK, quite different to the Guinness we buy here at home. The final of the FA Cup was live on TV so this helped to fill the time! The crossing was smooth and after arriving in Ireland we booked into our hotel which was a about 15 minutes walk from the city itself. We found a pub and enjoyed our first meal in Ireland.
The next morning (Sunday) we opted out of an "Optional Tour" and walked into Dublin for a look around. This street was Dublin's premiere shopping strip but being Sunday, many shops would not open until midday!
That night we enjoyed a few drinks with David and Lorraine at the Bowness hotel. Next morning was a bit showery (the first rain we had seen on our trip) as we headed for Chester for the customary mid morning stop. Chester is the sort of place you imagine an English medieval city to be. It once had a city wall (as most old English towns had) and to the left you can see a city gate. Below is a street scene from Chester. Old Tudor style buildings can be seen here.
We walked all the way around on the city wall. Most old English cities were built next to a river to provide water and a natural barrier from possible invaders. The feeling of building things to stop invaders is a new concept for those of us from Australia. As I mentioned in an earlier post, people in England and Europe have been killing each other over the last 3 thousand years! These were the times in which these cities were built. Below is another castle which was built to protect the north coast of Wales. There was a castle built every 15 kilometres or so right along the northern Wales coastline.
Next stop in Wales was this town. I will let the photo give you its name. Another Souvenir shop was here to tempt the endless line of tourists travelling to this part of the UK! I was able to stamp both our passports with the town's name stamp as a little memento of our visit. Remember to click on any photo for a larger view. To return to this page just click on the Back icon in the top left hand corner.
It is over 100kms across the Irish Sea to Ireland and we crossed by ferry. We changed our English pounds to Euros and I bought my first Guinness as we crossed the water. I am not a huge fan of Guinness myself but this stuff tasted OK, quite different to the Guinness we buy here at home. The final of the FA Cup was live on TV so this helped to fill the time! The crossing was smooth and after arriving in Ireland we booked into our hotel which was a about 15 minutes walk from the city itself. We found a pub and enjoyed our first meal in Ireland.
The next morning (Sunday) we opted out of an "Optional Tour" and walked into Dublin for a look around. This street was Dublin's premiere shopping strip but being Sunday, many shops would not open until midday!
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