Ireland, Scotland, Britain and Wales,
I can hear those ancient voices calling,
"Children, children, children".
I've been away from the Ray too long.
In the early mornin', we'll go walkin' where
The light comes shining through
On the Celtic Ray,
Are you ready?
The excitement built-only 2 more days till we flew out of Boston and arrived in London!! Finally the day arrived and we were actually on a plane flying to London where we will stay for a few days and then meet up with the rest of our group to begin a tour of England, Ireland and Wales.What a sensation getting off the plane, one has no concept of being in another country until you start to listen to all the conversations going on around you. Next we both try to get into the wrong side of the car waiting to pick us up and bring us to our Hotel. It felt like a ride at the fair driving on the opposite side of the road!!
We toured London for a couple of days on our own and finally met the other people we would be touring with-"What is this for real" was both our reactions. Keep in mind we both just had 2 days on our own partying and exploring and partying some more!! Off we go with a busload of people bent on shopping and taking pictures.
First stop was Oxford, Beth and I find the nearest Pub and loose all the other tourists. A few Guinness/Smithwicks and we are prepared to begin what turned out to be the strategy for the entire trip. Enjoy the countryside from the advantage point of the bus, stop; loose all other tourists-find a pub-party with the locals and eventually find our way back to our hotel.
We also had a great strategy for finding the best pubs-it's all in the smell. We would open the door and if it smelled highly of a mixture of disinfectant, booze and smoke, it was the right pub! We had such a great time that the other tourists wanted to party with us. We would say sure, but all they would see was a streak when we got off the bus and they could never find us. What a time we had! We made many a friend with our strategies and they remain friends to this day.
So now when we visit, we don't take a tour, we go on our own. One of the best memories for Beth was meeting a special guy in Wales and starting a courtship through the mail. Talk about a long distance relationship!!! This past February Beth flew to Wales and got married. Of course we had been back since the infamous summer of '96 and her husband had been to America, but all in all the summer of '96 will never be forgotten.
While in Ireland the summer of '96 we both noticed posters all over the place exclaiming Van Morrison playing. Being new to the whole idea of traveling we weren't quite brave enough to leave the tour completely and catch up with them in another city/town so we knew we would never get to see him live in Ireland that summer.
We took our second trip to Wales and Ireland in the summer of '97-well wouldn't you know Van was playing up north in Ireland the week we were staying in Wales to visit Beth's fiancée. Again missed Van. At this point we made a promise wherever he was going to be in the states when we got back we would fly, walk, crawl to see him.
Then there was magical January in New York City-what a great weekend we had and one we will never forget.
email address: Pritchar@OSI.Sylvania.Com
Beth Pritchard--I enjoy travelling, listening to music and reading
Of course Van Morrison is at the top of my list for artists.
Age-->40 and at times <20!
