Love Marmite of course, crave it once in a blue moon, always have some in the house. Fun fact, there is a shortage of Marmite at present because there is far less beer being made because pubs are closed. The remains of the yeast when brewing beer falls to the bottom of the brewing vat And that is what it is made of. It’s a great source of vitamin B. So when my body craves it, I eat it on toast. Had mushy peas just a couple of days ago.
British - Again too funny, but as expected. That's why I added the part about finding anyone that is not from a British Empire country that likes Marmite or Vegemite. Our next door neighbors are from England and they are Marmite fans. I'm told is the English peanut butter. I looked up the following about Marmite:
Marmite was invented in the late 1800s by a German scientist named Justus von Liebig when he discovered that leftover brewers' yeast could be concentrated and eaten. Marmite is so beloved that statistics say that 25 percent of Britons take Marmite with them when traveling out of the country.
First comment about that - how does ones brain work to think that you would want to concentrate leftover brewers yeast and then eat it? I guess that's entrepreneurship. The guy probably ended up making millions.
British - Do you take Marmite with you if you are traveling to areas that wouldn't be expected to have it available?
No more haggis for me, but how about Sticky Toffee Pudding? Blenheim was magnificent, the biggest issue there was some rooms were not well lighted and flash was not permitted.
Sam, I loved the whole presenting of the haggis ceremony the hotel put on the first night but found the taste pretty meh. The next night at the Whisky Experience dinner I had the chicken stuffed with vegetarian haggis and it was delicious.
Yeah, I don't get the whole marmite thing. But then we all have foods that we're raised in that others probably think are weird.
British - The 2 day Gift of Time I believe started in 2010 and the last time was 2011 when I took the Northern Spain tour, I believe they went to 1 day because there were people taking advantage of it, I know for a fact that someone I know insisted that Tauck give the 2 days to a friend that did not qualify as she had never traveled with Tauck before and I'm sure that there were many like that. My first Tauck tour was 2007 Egypt and Jordan.
Gladys, to correct typos on your own post just click on the tiny wheel looking icon in the upper right. Then select edit and you can make and save corrections. I'm always making errors plus the autocorrect feature on my tablet makes weird substitutions even when I type things I mean.😊
Our biggest disappointment was the Military Tattoo in Edinburgh. My husband and I were there August 2019. I guess we were expecting too much. Other than the beginning and closing when the bagpipers marched in the rest of the program was amateurish. We have seen better half time shows at our granddaughters high school football games.
We watched some YouTube videos of the tattoo and were glad not to be sitting in those stands for it. Both my husband and I have personally seen and participated in enough military parades not to want to do that. But I know loads of people rave about the tattoo.
Ok, a slow weekend so time for another installment. Next up was our two week Classic Ireland. Booking this one was a bit confusing. We wanted a Small Group and it was the first year that Tauck advertised both a Classic and a Small Group. We wrangled 2 spots on one of the last June dates available then family members wanted to go as well. When the wait list didn't seem to be moving at all we started looking at alternatives. In speaking to Tauck we found out that under the original Classic Tour there were still small group starts. The main difference was in the hotels. The famed Ashford Castle for nights 7-8 would be replaced with Glenlo Abbey. We worried that this would be a disappointment but turned out quite well. Our arrival at the hotel was via a boat taken from the dock in Galway. On board we were offered drinks including Irish Coffee. Based on a prior experience I turned it down. Big mistake. We were later given a demonstration on how to make it and got to sample some. Delicious. Wished I'd had a whole one. The other plus with Glenlo is one of their restaurants - 2 repurposed Orient Express dining cars. One was used in one of the film versions of the book. Our steaks were very overcooked, but the ambiance was still fun and I'd do it again. (Food the next night in their River Room was excellent).
So, what we feared was going to be a disappointment was a delight. One of the things many people rave about with Ashford is the Falconry demonstration. For our tour this was offered at our last stop - Mount Juliet. Days before we were given forms to select an activity we'd like at the hotel for free. It included falconry demo, golf, fishing, spa massage, etc. My husband did the falconry demo and loved it.
It's actually hard to find anything of disappointment on this tour, but the Book of Kells comes the closest. We waited outside in a drizzle for about 30 minutes. Finally got in and it was so crowded around the displays it was hard to see anything or even read the info boards. I gave up and headed upstairs to the library (a Harry Potter filming location) and that was much more interesting. If you have an interest in old religious artifacts, go the Dublin Castle grounds and visit the Chester Beatty Library. It's free, isn't crowded, loads of displays, and a small cafe with middle eastern fare.
On the hotels, I notice that the Classic Tour has replaced the Hilton by St Stephens Green with the Fitzwilliam. The Hilton was soso. Our flights arrived early so we didn't expect our rooms to be ready. They gave us a time to come back and we went out to do the usual - find an ATM, get some lunch, do some walking. Came back to the hotel at the time they told us to. Rooms still weren't ready. They apologized, said our rooms would be special, asked us to wait some more, etc. Waited in the lobby for another hour. Finally got in the rooms. Special? Not at all. Basic rooms, view of the roof. The Fitzwilliam looks to be in a better location - closer to Grafton Street, Temple Bar, etc so hopefully a better choice.
Please don't beat me up too much about Ashford Castle. I'm sure it's lovely.
Claudia - I certainly hope you mean that you were greeted by kilted bagpipers at the Sheraton in Edinburgh, as opposed to you purchasing either bagpipes or kilts. Although if you purchased kilts and bagpipes I'd love to see some pictures of your performance.
Hmmm, never saw one of those cutouts where you stick your head through an opening and appear to be someone or something else If I just remembered how to do it I could whip one up in Photoshop.
My musical ability is limited to turning on a radio. As for Scotland, the doorman at the Sheraton wore a kilt - no bagpipe but offered shortbread and whisky while checking in. Then at the welcome dinner a kilted bagpiper piped us in to dinner. He then was part of the ceremony presenting the haggis and reading some ode to the haggis. Quite lyrical but incomprehensible.
On bagpipes in general, prior to the trip we watched some videos of the tattoo to see what we'd be missing (tour was Jun/Jul). Our dog got really upset. She normally ignored anything on the TV but bagpipes were too much.
Sams post (the map with the extensive route and 1 night stays) reminds me of a weird bus we saw on a trip to Canyon Lands NP. Kept seeing this bus that also sort of looked like an RV. Here's a photo.
Turns out it was a German tour company that goes all over the world in these special buses that you both travel on and sleep in. The ones for places like Africa are much more hardy than this one. We googled the company and found some write ups from others who had encountered one of these. Apparently, the back half of the bus are sleeping quarters kind of like pods and there is a toilet. When the bus arrives at the night's stop (a campground with facilities), everyone disembarks to set up camp, cook dinner, etc. Showers and laundry provided at the campground. Can't remember who asked the question, but someone asked a driver whether many romances had occurred on the trips and he didn't know but was pretty sure some divorces resulted from them.
Please don't mark this as Spam. The last thing I am doing is recommending this tour company. This outfit makes you really appreciate the luxury and convenience of Tauck. But hey, for those who would find this fun - go for it.
That is the tour I would have chosen, a much better variety of towns and cites that really represents the UK and Ireland Some more two nights here and there of course.
No Portwenn, but an interesting city in Wales. Go ahead and pronounce this one. The name and what it means is above the entry to the building.
A bit of information about this Welsh town. If you go onto the internet (Wikipedia) you can even hear it pronounced.
Llanfairpwllgwyngyll or Llanfair Pwllgwyngyll is a large village and local government community on the island of Anglesey in Wales. It is situated on the Menai Strait next to the Britannia Bridge and across the strait from Bangor. Both shortened (Llanfairpwll or Llanfair PG) and lengthened (Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch) forms of the placename are used in various contexts
At the 2001 census, the population of the community was 3,040. By the time of the 2011 Census the population had increased to 3,107, of whom 71% could speak Welsh. It is the sixth largest settlement on the island by population.
The long form of the name, with 58 characters split into 19 syllables, is the longest place name in Europe and the second longest official one-word place name in the world. Although this name is generally stated to have been invented in the 1860s for promotional purposes, a similarly lengthy version was recorded as early as 1849.
When I was in grammar school, I had a pen pal who lived in Holyhead, Anglesey. I did not know until I read your post, Sam, that Anglesey was an island. Never too old to learn. Thank you!
We almost got to live on Anglesey when we were first married, found a cottage to rent and everything but then my hubby switched his study to Scotland. Angelsey is where Prince William used to live. Wales is beautiful, homeymooned there. And of course my hubby can pronounce that town!
Comments
Love Marmite of course, crave it once in a blue moon, always have some in the house. Fun fact, there is a shortage of Marmite at present because there is far less beer being made because pubs are closed. The remains of the yeast when brewing beer falls to the bottom of the brewing vat And that is what it is made of. It’s a great source of vitamin B. So when my body craves it, I eat it on toast. Had mushy peas just a couple of days ago.
British - Again too funny, but as expected. That's why I added the part about finding anyone that is not from a British Empire country that likes Marmite or Vegemite. Our next door neighbors are from England and they are Marmite fans. I'm told is the English peanut butter. I looked up the following about Marmite:
Marmite was invented in the late 1800s by a German scientist named Justus von Liebig when he discovered that leftover brewers' yeast could be concentrated and eaten. Marmite is so beloved that statistics say that 25 percent of Britons take Marmite with them when traveling out of the country.
First comment about that - how does ones brain work to think that you would want to concentrate leftover brewers yeast and then eat it? I guess that's entrepreneurship. The guy probably ended up making millions.
British - Do you take Marmite with you if you are traveling to areas that wouldn't be expected to have it available?
No more haggis for me, but how about Sticky Toffee Pudding? Blenheim was magnificent, the biggest issue there was some rooms were not well lighted and flash was not permitted.
Sam, I loved the whole presenting of the haggis ceremony the hotel put on the first night but found the taste pretty meh. The next night at the Whisky Experience dinner I had the chicken stuffed with vegetarian haggis and it was delicious.
Yeah, I don't get the whole marmite thing. But then we all have foods that we're raised in that others probably think are weird.
British - The 2 day Gift of Time I believe started in 2010 and the last time was 2011 when I took the Northern Spain tour, I believe they went to 1 day because there were people taking advantage of it, I know for a fact that someone I know insisted that Tauck give the 2 days to a friend that did not qualify as she had never traveled with Tauck before and I'm sure that there were many like that. My first Tauck tour was 2007 Egypt and Jordan.
Gladys, to correct typos on your own post just click on the tiny wheel looking icon in the upper right. Then select edit and you can make and save corrections. I'm always making errors plus the autocorrect feature on my tablet makes weird substitutions even when I type things I mean.😊
Thank you Claudia, I will remember that.
Our biggest disappointment was the Military Tattoo in Edinburgh. My husband and I were there August 2019. I guess we were expecting too much. Other than the beginning and closing when the bagpipers marched in the rest of the program was amateurish. We have seen better half time shows at our granddaughters high school football games.
We watched some YouTube videos of the tattoo and were glad not to be sitting in those stands for it. Both my husband and I have personally seen and participated in enough military parades not to want to do that. But I know loads of people rave about the tattoo.
Do they have the briefcase marching corps or the chair brigade at the Edinburgh tattoo?
Ok, a slow weekend so time for another installment. Next up was our two week Classic Ireland. Booking this one was a bit confusing. We wanted a Small Group and it was the first year that Tauck advertised both a Classic and a Small Group. We wrangled 2 spots on one of the last June dates available then family members wanted to go as well. When the wait list didn't seem to be moving at all we started looking at alternatives. In speaking to Tauck we found out that under the original Classic Tour there were still small group starts. The main difference was in the hotels. The famed Ashford Castle for nights 7-8 would be replaced with Glenlo Abbey. We worried that this would be a disappointment but turned out quite well. Our arrival at the hotel was via a boat taken from the dock in Galway. On board we were offered drinks including Irish Coffee. Based on a prior experience I turned it down. Big mistake. We were later given a demonstration on how to make it and got to sample some. Delicious. Wished I'd had a whole one. The other plus with Glenlo is one of their restaurants - 2 repurposed Orient Express dining cars. One was used in one of the film versions of the book. Our steaks were very overcooked, but the ambiance was still fun and I'd do it again. (Food the next night in their River Room was excellent).
So, what we feared was going to be a disappointment was a delight. One of the things many people rave about with Ashford is the Falconry demonstration. For our tour this was offered at our last stop - Mount Juliet. Days before we were given forms to select an activity we'd like at the hotel for free. It included falconry demo, golf, fishing, spa massage, etc. My husband did the falconry demo and loved it.
It's actually hard to find anything of disappointment on this tour, but the Book of Kells comes the closest. We waited outside in a drizzle for about 30 minutes. Finally got in and it was so crowded around the displays it was hard to see anything or even read the info boards. I gave up and headed upstairs to the library (a Harry Potter filming location) and that was much more interesting. If you have an interest in old religious artifacts, go the Dublin Castle grounds and visit the Chester Beatty Library. It's free, isn't crowded, loads of displays, and a small cafe with middle eastern fare.
On the hotels, I notice that the Classic Tour has replaced the Hilton by St Stephens Green with the Fitzwilliam. The Hilton was soso. Our flights arrived early so we didn't expect our rooms to be ready. They gave us a time to come back and we went out to do the usual - find an ATM, get some lunch, do some walking. Came back to the hotel at the time they told us to. Rooms still weren't ready. They apologized, said our rooms would be special, asked us to wait some more, etc. Waited in the lobby for another hour. Finally got in the rooms. Special? Not at all. Basic rooms, view of the roof. The Fitzwilliam looks to be in a better location - closer to Grafton Street, Temple Bar, etc so hopefully a better choice.
Please don't beat me up too much about Ashford Castle. I'm sure it's lovely.
Ashford Castle was great. We arrived by boat as well, but were you met by a piper?
We could book falconry there, but also did it at Mt. Juliet.
The Trinity College library wasn't too crowded when we were there.
Did you get any photos of the Book of Kells? I got one-
actually I took a photo of a gift shop poster.
I bought the postcard. And we got kilts and bagpipes in Edinburgh at the Sheraton.
Claudia - I certainly hope you mean that you were greeted by kilted bagpipers at the Sheraton in Edinburgh, as opposed to you purchasing either bagpipes or kilts. Although if you purchased kilts and bagpipes I'd love to see some pictures of your performance.
Hmmm, never saw one of those cutouts where you stick your head through an opening and appear to be someone or something else
If I just remembered how to do it I could whip one up in Photoshop. 
My musical ability is limited to turning on a radio. As for Scotland, the doorman at the Sheraton wore a kilt - no bagpipe but offered shortbread and whisky while checking in.
Then at the welcome dinner a kilted bagpiper piped us in to dinner. He then was part of the ceremony presenting the haggis and reading some ode to the haggis. Quite lyrical but incomprehensible.
On bagpipes in general, prior to the trip we watched some videos of the tattoo to see what we'd be missing (tour was Jun/Jul). Our dog got really upset. She normally ignored anything on the TV but bagpipes were too much.
A few shots from our haggis ceremony.
We also had a piper when we crossed from England into Scotland.
Sam, was this a Tauck tour?
No. It was before I discovered Tauck. My first Tauck tour was in 2011. The tour above was in 2008. Here was the route we took. It was a 3 week tour.
Wow, looks exhausting. Whole bunch of one night stays. But you sure covered a lot of ground.
Sams post (the map with the extensive route and 1 night stays) reminds me of a weird bus we saw on a trip to Canyon Lands NP. Kept seeing this bus that also sort of looked like an RV. Here's a photo.
Turns out it was a German tour company that goes all over the world in these special buses that you both travel on and sleep in. The ones for places like Africa are much more hardy than this one. We googled the company and found some write ups from others who had encountered one of these. Apparently, the back half of the bus are sleeping quarters kind of like pods and there is a toilet. When the bus arrives at the night's stop (a campground with facilities), everyone disembarks to set up camp, cook dinner, etc. Showers and laundry provided at the campground. Can't remember who asked the question, but someone asked a driver whether many romances had occurred on the trips and he didn't know but was pretty sure some divorces resulted from them.
Please don't mark this as Spam. The last thing I am doing is recommending this tour company. This outfit makes you really appreciate the luxury and convenience of Tauck. But hey, for those who would find this fun - go for it.
That is the tour I would have chosen, a much better variety of towns and cites that really represents the UK and Ireland Some more two nights here and there of course.
But Sam didn't go to Portwenn. Actually a fictional town in Cornwall. Anyone get the reference?
We saw the same style bus in the Canadian Rockies. It's an intriguing way to travel.
Yep bkmd, or Port Isaac.
Those little villages get inundated with tourists each year. Martin Clunes is also a great comedy actor
He's done some good documentaries as well. Watched part of the dog series and it's funny seeing him loving dogs after watching his character.
No Portwenn, but an interesting city in Wales. Go ahead and pronounce this one. The name and what it means is above the entry to the building.
A bit of information about this Welsh town. If you go onto the internet (Wikipedia) you can even hear it pronounced.
Llanfairpwllgwyngyll or Llanfair Pwllgwyngyll is a large village and local government community on the island of Anglesey in Wales. It is situated on the Menai Strait next to the Britannia Bridge and across the strait from Bangor. Both shortened (Llanfairpwll or Llanfair PG) and lengthened (Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch) forms of the placename are used in various contexts
At the 2001 census, the population of the community was 3,040. By the time of the 2011 Census the population had increased to 3,107, of whom 71% could speak Welsh. It is the sixth largest settlement on the island by population.
The long form of the name, with 58 characters split into 19 syllables, is the longest place name in Europe and the second longest official one-word place name in the world. Although this name is generally stated to have been invented in the 1860s for promotional purposes, a similarly lengthy version was recorded as early as 1849.
When I was in grammar school, I had a pen pal who lived in Holyhead, Anglesey. I did not know until I read your post, Sam, that Anglesey was an island. Never too old to learn. Thank you!
We almost got to live on Anglesey when we were first married, found a cottage to rent and everything but then my hubby switched his study to Scotland. Angelsey is where Prince William used to live. Wales is beautiful, homeymooned there. And of course my hubby can pronounce that town!