Leaving England and Preparing to Travel by Ferry to Ireland
by Dan Ryan '09

After another morning of packing, breakfast, and checking out of the hotel, we made our way onto the bus and headed north.

On our way, we stopped at Warwick Castle. The castle had been standing for hundred of years and is now something like a theme park. While waiting for our entry outside the castle gates, Will Reedy (of Orlando, Fla.) was even greeted by a replicated friendly family of lepers.

After making our way through the gates, we were immediately astonished by the magnificent courtyard complete with hand-built authentic stone towers and walls and beautiful green grass. At this castle, the dungeons, weapons and ghost tours were among the most popular attractions for our group.

Later in the afternoon, it was time for our second game versus a Liverpool Area Team. They proved to be much better than the first team and they took the match in a final score of 11-8. I would like to really get into the details of the game quarter by quarter, but the blog is only so big. I'm sure if SportsCenter had a highlight reel they would show Matt Puccio (Oaktown, Va.) playing good defense and so on. But you would also see players on Liverpool team from England's, Australia's and Wales' National Teams. After sharing laughs, conversation and refreshments in the team's club house, we headed back to the hotel and we were relieved another long day was over.

We woke up and did the by now well-rehearsed morning dance of pack, eat and go to start our day. Here is a good time to talk about the English morning breakfast we have been having. You have toast, eggs, sausage, bacon, and even baked beans. I can safely say that we left every hotel full and content.

We arrived in a small town in North Wales on the River Mersey. This stop was only for about two hours and mostly for lunch, but the team seemed to enjoy the small village's setting with shops, waterfront and castle walls. Back on the bus again, we headed to one of the more interesting stops of the trip.

Our tour guide John insisted that we stop in a town with the longest name in the world for a few minutes. Now as a joke, Brad Ross (Freeland, Md.), Wayne Carbiener (Orlando, Fla.), and I added up the names of all our towns and states to see how it measured up. The world we created was WestboroughMassachusettsFreelandMarylandOrlandoFlorida, a total of 54 letters. In Wales you can find a town with 58 letters called Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch. No, I didn't just run my fingers across the key board. And, no I am not kidding! The real fun, however, was listening to a local say it. It sounded kind of like a 20-second slur and our tour guide said to pronounce it correctly you need a good pair of wood teeth. I had to take four consecutive photographs of the town sign and I hope I can connect them all in Photoshop later.

My next blog will be from Ireland as we are about to get on the Irish Ferry.