The OuterBelt's Podcast
The OuterBelt's Podcast
Cruising British Isles: Whimsical Resort Towns, Titanic Tales, and Whiskey Adventures!
Ever wondered what it's like to explore the British Isles by cruise? You won't want to miss our playful and insightful recap of our summer adventure through England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland. From the quirks of British expressions to the comfort of pink gin, we share the joy of discovering British culture. Listen as we recount how my dad and sister surprised us with this unforgettable trip, the logistical hiccups like switching rooms, and the unexpected delight of staying aboard while the ship was in port. This episode promises to bring you laughter and a fresh perspective on cruising through history and whimsy.
We take you on a magical journey to a resort in Wales that seems straight out of a movie set—complete with charming paths, whimsical attractions, and a hotel by the water. Hear about our surreal experience walking through this eccentric place, exploring historic castles, and visiting the longest-named town in the world. And don't miss our tales from Glasgow, where we marveled at the ingenious lock system that bridges river levels. This chapter captures the essence of adventure, blending historic charm with the weird allure of a strangely fake town.
Our travels wouldn't be complete without a deep dive into Belfast's Titanic Museum and a spirited whiskey adventure in Ireland. We bring you along to the museum focused on the ship's construction, complete with interactive displays and a gantry crane ride. Then, join us for premium whiskey tastings at the Jameson Distillery and a spontaneous escapade that led to new favorite whiskeys. We wrap up with family visits to Drummond Castle, scenic drives, and a theatrical night in Paris, showcasing the magic of bonding through travel and the irreplaceable moments shared with loved ones.
Email us: theouterbeltpodcast@gmail.com
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Hey everybody, welcome to the Outer Belt Summer Recap. I'm Patrick and you all know my friends Billy.
Speaker 1:Buttermilk.
Speaker 2:Some Shady and Jerry and we're back for part two of the or, as they say in England, pip-pip.
Speaker 1:Pip-Pip, I love it.
Speaker 2:Oh no, this is part two of the summer recap. If you haven't heard last week's episode, go back and listen to it. This will make a whole lot more sense, a lot more sense, a lot more sense. How much more sense do you think it'll make? Two times, I think 35.
Speaker 3:Really 35 more sense, More sense yeah, how?
Speaker 2:I think $35.
Speaker 3:Really $35 more cents, more cents.
Speaker 2:Yeah, how about a pip-pip Hooray?
Speaker 3:How about 35 pence?
Speaker 1:I was going to say, ah, that's too many mics. How about a?
Speaker 3:penny for your thoughts. My thoughts are worth one.
Speaker 2:I thought I was going to say didn't we agree to $10 an episode? I think so. Why are we doing? A penny Jerry's like. When did we agree to that?
Speaker 1:That's because our non-sponsors are non-sponsoring us anymore.
Speaker 2:I know they're so cheap.
Speaker 1:What happened to Lever 2000? I thought they were going to non-sponsor us.
Speaker 2:Oh, you know what's funny? I'm actually using Lever 2000, right?
Speaker 4:now in the shower, isn't that?
Speaker 2:great, it sounds like you're changing.
Speaker 1:And if you don't know what that's about. You have to go way back to season one, Way back to season one Back when we were still young and fresh. Sitting at a table.
Speaker 2:Two tables, two tables, two turntables. We were doing the wiki-wak-wak wiki. We were yeah, we were shooting.
Speaker 4:We were three tables in the very beginning.
Speaker 2:Very beginning, three tables. That's right, we have, we have. Well, now we have one, two, three, four tables. We've grown, not as high.
Speaker 1:They're not all smushed together either.
Speaker 2:They're not. Yeah, yeah, we've separated, we've added more people, yeah, but that's not what we're here to discuss. Part two of the summer Outerbelts summer recap. And what have we done? And the question everybody's been dying for a week to know is yes, did you?
Speaker 3:or did you not go back to Iceland with your father and your sister? I?
Speaker 2:did not go back to Iceland with my father or my sister.
Speaker 4:You are not the father.
Speaker 2:I love you anyways. So we I did not we took a British Isles cruise. Do you know where that is?
Speaker 1:No.
Speaker 3:I'm going to guess Britain, britain.
Speaker 1:Great Britain.
Speaker 3:Great Britain the Isles around Great Britain.
Speaker 2:That's right.
Speaker 3:How did you know?
Speaker 2:that.
Speaker 3:I just deduced it from it being called the British Isles Tour Cruise Cruise and figured maybe it was the isles around Great Britain. That's correct.
Speaker 1:Is an isle an island, or is an isle something much different, like smaller than an island?
Speaker 3:I was going to ask that same question.
Speaker 1:I'm not really sure what an isle is.
Speaker 2:It's like when you walk into a church and you're walking between the pews.
Speaker 4:You're walking down the isles.
Speaker 2:Okay, yeah, so they have multiple isles. Got it? Or is it isles be back? I don't know. There's so many ways you can use this term. It's very confusing. I don't understand it.
Speaker 3:But no, in this case it is islands.
Speaker 2:So it's like the Hawaiian Isles, Very similar but more British. Less.
Speaker 3:Polynesian and a whole lot colder Gotcha. Where are they?
Speaker 1:Isles of British, I mean, I could obviously go and look at the pediatrics, so they're around Britain.
Speaker 2:Well, so you have obvious, you have England.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:Wales.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:Scotland.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:Northern Ireland.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:Southern Ireland. No, that's not true, it's just Ireland, and then I guess that's it, isn't it?
Speaker 3:Well, don't forget, way down here you have the British Virgin Islands.
Speaker 2:Yeah, well, that was the two-and-a-half-month cruise and we didn't have time for that.
Speaker 1:Got it, got it.
Speaker 2:Now you've got to take something like P&L or Canard. You've got to really do it proper. British Proper.
Speaker 3:British Daily afternoon tea.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. This was a much shorter cruise. We only did it for eight days instead of 14. It's an entire breakfast, right, right, and or. What I really like is the strawberry gin they call it pink gin over there they don't call it strawberry gin, because they can't say strawberry or something. It's a strawberry, it just doesn't flow right. So they call it pink gin and you add a little lemonade to it. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Lemonade yeah.
Speaker 2:It's good, it's good, it's good um but uh, anyways, I feel like we're tangenting here and we don't need to change we need to be on track dad
Speaker 2:and mel surprised dad and mel surprised us, and so we ended up doing the british isles cruise, had a great time. Uh, I I do recommend that one. It was fun again, it was a shorter cruise. What really gets under my crawl, though, is we were not able to keep our same room. So, even though we were on a back-to-back cruise, even though we were literally like same ship, everything, eric and I did not get off the boat like at all in Dover, except for the last day.
Speaker 2:It's actually the most relaxing time ever being on a cruise ship. That was so awesome. I highly recommend it.
Speaker 4:When they tell you to get off, don't get off, just stay on. They still had one bar open.
Speaker 2:It was super early in the morning. Look, I love to drink. Y'all have all partied with Highfield. You know how we do. I'm not drinking at 7 o'clock in the morning. I'm sorry, just not doing it, unless I haven't quit from the night before.
Speaker 3:That's different, I was going to say that's different.
Speaker 2:But no, 7 o'clock in the morning I'm not doing it, so at that point I'm just drinking bottles of nice. But what a cluster. So the way they do it on a back-to-back, a lot of times you stay in the same room. They just keep you in the same room, no big deal. Well, when we made the cruise arrangements, there was no two rooms that lined up, so we didn't have a choice but to switch rooms. But they really take care of you when you do that.
Speaker 2:Like we didn't put our luggage out with everybody the day night before. We actually just had to leave our luggage, like pack it and leave it on the bed, and then they moved it to our room and like literally brought it and put it in our room, as opposed to, like, if you are the first, you know, if you're your first day on the cruise, they leave it outside your room and then you have to go collect it and you have to walk up and down the hall to find your stuff. This was literally in the room waiting on us. So that was really nice. Um, they gave us a free picture. They gave us, um, they came around during dinnertime one night and gave us uh, asked us seating, accommodations for the next cruise, what we'd prefer, all that stuff. So we were able to keep our same waitress Uh, we were able to keep our same waitress. Uh, we were able to stay in our same seat.
Speaker 2:Everything, nothing on that end changed, only our room changed, and it's the same classroom, same everything. And, man, I wish we could have stayed in our first room. The internet was basically non-existent in our room, which was crazy, because y'all complained about that, didn't y'all? When you were on the cruise, y'all talked about how bad the internet was and I was like man, it's lightning fast in our cabin. I couldn't understand that. And then, when we switched over the new cabin, sure enough, lost it just that far enough away from the hot spot I guess it was so strange.
Speaker 2:Um, but irregardless, we still made it the british isles, the british isles, we went to uh wales, which there's no whales there no that is shocking.
Speaker 3:Well, there's whales.
Speaker 2:They just want to have the h in them yes, and, and the people are welsh, but there's no grape juice.
Speaker 4:Oh, Everything about Wales is not like you would think.
Speaker 2:Beautiful country. Looks just like England, which is. If you look at a map, it's literally like they just carved a piece of England out like squales. I know that's not really how it is If you are Welsh. I'm sorry if that was insensitive, but that's what it looks like on a map. Yes, Really great people had a lovely time there. Really nice people. We did a tour to some resort I don't even know what you call this. Do you remember that?
Speaker 4:The Garden it was a town at one time.
Speaker 2:No, it wasn't even a real town. It was all fake. That's what was so weird about it.
Speaker 2:Like a movie set, sure. So this eccentric billionaire bought this property on the water and it's a big hill and it's freaking steep Downhill to the water and up you're hiking. It's a rough walk and he built all these paths throughout the land, which was great. We walked several of them, had a great time. But then the main draw is that there's a hotel down by the water and then between the park and the hotel, which is a very long walk, like they have, um, golf carts that bring the the hotel guests back and forth, because it's a very long walk.
Speaker 2:But they built a fake town and it's only open, you know, a few hours a day and it's all ran by the resort but it's not really resort-y. It was super strange, very, very odd place and it's like Alice in Wonderland fake stuff, it's just all fake. It's like Disney World fake. It's very strange, a very weird place. A lot of us on the bus ride back were like that is not what we expected. It was very strange. I wish I could remember the name of it, but it was a very odd place. But we spent like five hours there.
Speaker 4:We were there for a very long time. They had the fake lighthouse, yes, on the trail. Yes, okay, it's kind of like Disney. He was a Disney wannabe and he Disney-ized it Didn't have the budget or the creativity, I don't know.
Speaker 2:It was odd, it was very strange.
Speaker 1:And they call it a tourist area Kind of Must be big for their.
Speaker 2:But it's not even old, like it was built in the early 1900s. So it's.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but it's still probably a part of their history.
Speaker 2:Sure.
Speaker 1:Maybe because it took up a big portion of the land on the water.
Speaker 3:I guess it's a great way to get revenue for the people of Wales.
Speaker 1:There you go, okay, this had the feeling of Wales there you go.
Speaker 2:Okay, this had the feeling of it only made a couple people rich, so we did that, had a few beers there and a couple sandwiches, and then we left. And keep in mind, before we got there we went by a castle, like a 15th 13th century castle.
Speaker 3:Okay.
Speaker 2:And then you know, on the way back we went by another castle and it's like why can't we see that stuff?
Speaker 1:yeah, you know what I mean. Like I, don't know.
Speaker 2:Something that's less than 100 years old feels weird, right, but we go to um the quarry, so, like wells is really big in slate quarrying, uh, slate mining, um, and that was really cool to see because we were going to some slate mines that are hundreds of years old wow, the way they the way they dug out the mountain and everything and the way they processed it. We went to a slate processing plant and had the largest water well I've ever seen in my life. That thing was 54 foot in diameter. Is that right, Eric?
Speaker 3:That sounds cool.
Speaker 2:I think it was 54 foot is what it said on the little plaque.
Speaker 3:I'm trying to remember it was huge.
Speaker 1:Huge A well.
Speaker 2:A water will A water will Got it Like you've seen, like a river and water comes across it. Yeah, that thing Huge and it ran. You know, the pulley system runs all the like honing and all the stuff to get the slate down to a perfect shingle and all that stuff. It was really interesting and it dates back to like 1700s. So it's again very cool to see all this really old stuff, um, and how massive those mines are. They're gigantic. And then we left there and um ended up going over to, and we to the to the longest named town in the world. Yeah, longest named town in the world.
Speaker 1:yes, like the Longest named town in the world.
Speaker 2:Yes, like the name of the town is the name of the town is most letters the most letters and I would pronounce it for you, but I don't speak Welsh so I can't.
Speaker 1:How many letters does it have?
Speaker 2:Too many.
Speaker 1:OK.
Speaker 2:I could count real quick, but we don't have five minutes to spare Really. Yeah, five minutes to spare Really, yeah, it's ridiculous.
Speaker 3:Will you put it right there for us?
Speaker 2:Yeah, can we put it right?
Speaker 3:here, or it'll be like multi-hyphenated.
Speaker 2:Yeah it'll be interesting to see how Jerry does this. He's going to just slap it right across your face, right?
Speaker 4:now.
Speaker 2:It's going to be like. I'll show you. It's a really interesting town.
Speaker 1:It's going to be font three, so you can get it all in there.
Speaker 2:But it's a really cool place. And then we went to Back to the boat. That was it. But that was a pretty long day. I mean, like I said, we spent five hours at one site and then from Wales we ended up going over to I'm going to get all the geography wrong of where we went, so Dolphin Island.
Speaker 3:We were in Alabama, Wales.
Speaker 2:Dolphins no, we went to Glasgow.
Speaker 1:Ooh.
Speaker 2:Yes. And in Glasgow I made the mistake, the night before of having too much fun, so I missed Glasgow, but I heard it was nice.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 4:Is Glasgow where the lock was.
Speaker 2:Yes, yes, y'all did the oh. Tell us about that, because I heard it was a wonderful experience and nothing at all was weird about it.
Speaker 1:Like a Loch Ness Monster lock.
Speaker 4:No, so the top level of the river and the bottom level of the river was too far apart, so they needed a quicker way to get from way up here to way down here. Like the Panama.
Speaker 2:Canal locks.
Speaker 4:Yes, but they needed it. Started out with multiple-layer locks and it was too long, so what they did was they created a device which you have to look online to see exactly what it is.
Speaker 2:No, it'll be right there over your shoulder.
Speaker 3:Wow, that's interesting, that's really quick.
Speaker 2:Wow, look at that thing. Yeah, it's mechanical, it looks huge.
Speaker 4:It does. So, yeah, we took a long bus ride to get to it. This was another weird one, because the second we got off the bus we ran around the tourist building to get in line for the boat. But basically what it does, as you can see from the picture they showed the boat will go into, like Called, a pool, they'll shut off the back end of the pool and this whole thing will rotate around and Then when it gets to the top, it already has water where the boat's at. So it just opens a door and the boat can float out of it onto the top level of the lock and it's balanced out because there's water in both sections at all times.
Speaker 1:How interesting.
Speaker 4:So, you don't have to worry about, I'm at the top. The weight of the boat's going to make it swing back down to the bottom. Not the case, because they have water at the bottom as well. So it's a perfectly balanced system that gets boats from way at the bottom to I want to say six, seven stories.
Speaker 1:I don't know how many feet that is so it's like a wheel, kind of like a fan wheel it.
Speaker 4:It spins.
Speaker 1:Oh, how cool.
Speaker 4:It looks very industrial, very gray all around.
Speaker 1:What a neat engineering aspect.
Speaker 2:Well, what y'all did was like a bus tour.
Speaker 4:You actually rode it right. Yes, we did ride it. We got in the boat, went up to the top, it went out all the way to where the river turns. Basically it turned around and it came back out and we rode it back down to the top. It went out all the way to where the river turns. Basically it turned around and it came back out and we rode it back down to the bottom.
Speaker 2:And it sounds very scenic, like everybody would have had a great scenic.
Speaker 4:No, Not at all. We got in it. It had a covering over it. Yeah, believe it or not, you couldn't see much of anything. All you could see was out the sides, and If you didn't have the receipt you, you couldn't see much of anything.
Speaker 4:All you could see was out the sides and if you didn't have actually we got it couldn't see we got into it and we're just talking uh me, his dad and sister and like all of a sudden we realized we're not on the ground anymore. The thing was already quarter halfway up before we even realized it was moving but, that's how quiet and slow and subtle it was yeah, what a neat experience I know I really it's, it's, it's something I really wanted to do.
Speaker 2:And again, the neck. That morning I was like not happening, I don't care what, what could be laying on the other side of that door. I'm not, I can, I'm not gonna make it, I can't make it.
Speaker 4:But yeah, so when the boat got to the lock, brought the boat to the top, it uh, floated out of it. It went through a short tunnel, got to the end and had just enough space to turn the boat around and then go back through the tunnel and back into the lock before it went down interesting.
Speaker 1:That would have been cool. And this was in Glasgow, you said yes very nice after a very long bus ride.
Speaker 4:If you do your excursions, most of them are long bus rides to get to somewhere wherever they're showing you they provide you water on those some did if you're lucky they'll provide you lunch. But a lot of them will get away without providing lunch.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah. So we left there, and it's funny because I kind of got a heads up. I was talking to Melissa. I was like how was it? She was like I really enjoyed it, but Dad and Eric kind of hated it, so she already prepped me for it. So when we got to dinner I was like so how was it? That's funny.
Speaker 4:Footnote without being rude, I thought it was the most boring thing ever. Like I said, we were talking to each other and didn't even realize it had started moving, until we're halfway up going to the top.
Speaker 2:Based on everything I heard, I definitely missed the ideal one to miss.
Speaker 3:I feel pretty good about that, because I only missed one, and I'm glad I missed that one. Well, it sounds like it's a pretty cool feat of engineering, though, if you're into that type of thing.
Speaker 4:Yes.
Speaker 3:It's a great way of transporting people, items, from one level to the other level without having those to continue to step down. It seems like a really cool feat of engineering. I can see where riding it, though, isn't that big of a deal.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think it'd be more fun. So in Great Britain Scotland, london, both have it you can rent these longboats, they call them, and they're basically like an RV on the water and you can actually do the canal system and you have to do the locksaw yourself and it's very manual and it's a really cool thing to do. I'd like to do it at some point in my life. I think doing that and incorporating that wheel into it would be like a sense of accomplishment and like hey, look what we just did.
Speaker 2:It's cool. Plus, you're out in the open. There's no roof above you, so you do get to see everything. I think that would be really great, cramming into the little boat like y'all got crammed into I don't know.
Speaker 4:Yeah, it was packed with people and, like I said, the covering wasn't clear. It wasn't an open ceiling. It was really difficult to see. The only view you really had was left and right into the horizon. When you're going up it. The center piece of the whole mechanism blocks your view half of the time. If you have a boat going up and a boat going down, you can never see the other boat because the centerpiece was like 10 feet thick.
Speaker 2:Wow, imagine how much weight it's got, though. Right, it's a lot of weight on that thing.
Speaker 4:But I imagine that it requires the least amount of energy because, like I said, the amount of water on the bottom, on the top, it's besides the boat that's in it, it of water on the bottom, on the top, besides the boat that's in it.
Speaker 2:It's kind of equal For the rotation, it's counterbalanced. But once both are in the air all the weight of both those cars are riding on that one centerpiece.
Speaker 4:The weight into the ground is bad.
Speaker 2:It sounds really interesting. Again, it's what I wanted to see, but after hearing y'all talk about it, if I was going to miss an excursion, I'm glad it's that one.
Speaker 1:Sure Sounds like it would have been interesting to see from the ground level or the lower lake level.
Speaker 2:Did y'all get to see that or no?
Speaker 1:But just watch the mechanics as opposed to doing a whole boat. I guess maybe either or would have been an option, would have been nice, and maybe just to watch it from the ground level.
Speaker 4:Like I said, whenever the bus finally got to the place, they were rushing us into the boat. Once they got us in the boat, we were waiting 15 minutes or more. It felt like.
Speaker 2:I do hate that. It's one thing that we cruise a lot.
Speaker 2:I think would be a fair assessment you could say We've done a lot of excursions and we don't do a lot of excursions. We are very particular on when we do and when we don't do one. Anytime I'm in Europe, typically we do because it's so different than like your typical Caribbean port or whatever. It's not as easy to like, figure a way out. I mean a lot of your ports in the Caribbean or in South America. If I a lot, I mean a lot of your ports in the caribbean or in south america. If I don't want to do anything, I can just go sit on the beach, sure, right, like there's something to do, sure you get into. I mean the european ports. A lot of times you're in the middle of like a freight uh place, like there's a crane unloading a truck. I mean a ship behind you and another one in front of you doing the same thing. Like you're not in a scenic, pretty area terminal. You're not a same thing Like you're not in a scenic, pretty area terminal.
Speaker 2:You're not a cruise terminal per se, you, you you're a lot of times in a very industrial area, so it's it's a little more tricky, um, but uh, yeah, I hate when you get on excursion and they just rush you through everything I've. I have had that happen before and it's frustrating, you can't be in the moment and of course, I've been on the opposite side where it's been very laid back. Um, I think a lot of the iceland ones we did were pretty darn laid back, which I loved we can't wait to get off the four-wheeled vehicle.
Speaker 2:Yes, that one was too laid back uh, that they could have stepped, picked it up a notch on that one for sure, but uh, no. So we did um. The next day we were in trying, trying to get my days right, we did Belfast next, I think, um, so we got to go back to Belfast only this time. My sister is a huge Titanic nut. She's been to all the Titanic museums here in America and so I knew, I knew I didn't even ask, didn't even question, I just knew we were doing Titanic that day, right, like that was not an excursion that was not an excursion, but I knew we were going like it was just facts.
Speaker 2:And so when we talked to melissa before one of the trips, she's like, yeah, I've already booked those four tickets to the museum and I've already done online and researched and we're going to take the taxi from here to here, we pick it up, like, and everything went exactly the way she said it would. You could tell she definitely had figured that one out. I like the Titanic because I'm a big cruise ship nerd, but I'm a little over it. I've seen the movies, I've seen a lot of documentaries on it. I get it. So I've never been to a Titanic museum in America. Doesn't excite me, I'm just not that as much as I like it, and you would think I would like that engineering stuff. Eh, I'm over it. This was something I'd never seen before.
Speaker 2:The whole museum was dedicated to the construction of the Titanic. Like 90% of the museum is construction and it was extremely interactive and very tastefully and well done, to the point where you enter like they talked about the huge gantry cranes they had to build to go over the uh, the shipyard to build this thing. Right, the huge cranes go over it and so and the scaffolding and all so in the museum they just they're all. So they just built one for you to see. And then they had an elevator take you up. So we literally like, rode an elevator, threw a gantry crane, went to the top level. Then when you get off the top level you walk around this thing and you admire it. And then they took you on a on a interactive theme park ride, basically hanging from a track, the gondola hanging from a track, and you went through and they had everything set up as if you were taking a tour through the actual shipyard where they built the thing.
Speaker 2:And in various stages of construction. Super cool. There was so much stuff where they talked about like at the time Belfast was world famous for their linen. They made all this linen and so, like all the bed sheets and all the stuff for all the cruises. They were ocean liners. Back then All the ocean liners were coming out of there. All the hotels in Europe were getting their linens from that used linens, because a lot of them still used cotton back then too.
Speaker 2:But all that stuff was coming out of Belfast. So they explained all that. They explained why they had all the metal urges and how old the shipyard was and how they rebuilt Belfast. Like literally it's just like a little river that comes up to Belfast, which is fine in the 1500s when it's just like a little one-masted sailing vessel as your commercial rig. But as things got bigger, they talked about how the government built all these locks and they expanded and they really changed the whole way Belfast looks.
Speaker 2:It was fascinating. I mean like I just it was fascinating. They had mock-ups inside there of what the individual staterooms look like. They had the different, like all the different prints for the China and for the silverware and everything and just everything it had to do with the construction side of it and they explained it in such good detail. What did a construction worker's life look like? What all that stuff? How did they handle safety, everything? It was phenomenal how they launched it, how exciting that was. All this, I mean like it was great. And again, I've never seen a museum that museums don't focus on that the titanic experience. They focus on the constructed, built thing and then the in the crash. They don't really focus on that construction aspect of it the workers condition or to build up to how they
Speaker 2:yes like you said, from a little boat to the yes like that's history yes, and they did go through a pretty detailed explanation of Belfast. I mean, it was a whole giant section on just Belfast, nothing to do with Titanic. We're not even there yet. Like, you need to have this understanding of the area. It was really good, it was really well thought out, it was a very interactive, very nice museum and I'm not again, I'm not a huge museum person. They nailed it. They did an excellent job. If you go to belfast, go to the museum. I feel bad you and don didn't get to go because it was.
Speaker 2:That would have been interesting it shockingly, like really really well done kudos to melissa and you're on.
Speaker 2:You are on the site where they built it yeah like that is literally they uh the site where they built it, and then you can actually walk out behind the place and, um, see the slipway where they they launched it into the water. They have, uh, we have pictures, because they have a glass window, one section where they actually have a model of how they did it, and then they have the countdown, then they have like video and audio stuff of it actually happening so you can like really imagine how this is. Oh, it's crazy Good.
Speaker 1:Crazy Good. I've seen a barge launch before. That's pretty amazing. A barge, yeah.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah.
Speaker 1:I've seen one of those that was all built.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And I went to the launch party.
Speaker 2:Was it a party party?
Speaker 1:It was a party party.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:I mean, it wasn't anything fancy, it was going to haul, product of some sort yeah. But they make it a big party.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And the important people that need to be there are there, and the champagne bottle was cracked, and they do it in a bag though, just FYI nowadays.
Speaker 2:Oh, they don't want glass going everywhere. Why not? No?
Speaker 1:No, but you know, and they do all of the animal fat you know the tallow? Yeah, um, because it's biodegradable and it's okay to be in the waters. This was the waters of the columbia river in portland, and a couple of whacks, from which blows my mind that just a few things are holding all this steel on a slope.
Speaker 1:One tap or two and it's all gone in the water. And you know it's so heavy, it's steel, but the wave it makes, you know, and the tugboats are out there, kind of corral it, you know, and it's pretty amazing. And when they do the countdown you better be ready and don't blink and don't be on your phone, don't be doing anything else, because as soon as they move those blocks, you know that are holding it, it's in the water, it's done.
Speaker 2:And that was a barge Imagine.
Speaker 1:A ship.
Speaker 2:A thousand-foot-long ship. Yeah, you know what I mean, like just, and you know what I mean. They said it took like 30-something seconds to make that whole trip, so it started out slow. So they actually talked about that too, how they launched it and how they had different colored. They actually went through and painted different colors on the supports underneath it and they had different schedules. So it was like the night before they went through and removed all the blue supports. The day of at 8 am they removed the yellow supports and then later on they removed the next supports to where it literally is just barely being held on, so that when the time comes, all they had to do was move a couple supports and gravity would take its support. It was fascinating.
Speaker 1:That's pretty cool, that's pretty cool.
Speaker 2:And then it did go into, obviously, the event, what actually happened, how it hit the iceberg, that kind of thing. And then it went into a memorial. Everybody's name that was on the ship was there. Then they talked again the construction, right.
Speaker 2:So when this thing launched, because it was so brand new, not everything on the Titanic was finished. You know, we don't have to think about that. It wasn't a complete ship and you see that happen with cruise ships now, like when Icon of the Seas or when Carnival launched what was it? Jubilee recently, those ships sailed back to America empty because they weren't done with them. Even though they were done, they were still fixing little things here and there, right. And so Titanic's no exception. They got it cruisable, ocean-worthy, but there are a few things that needed to be fixed. Maybe this boiler's not quite working right or the heater in this room's not working right, or whatever. And so they actually they talked about how they had cabinet makers on the cruise ship, on the Titanic, that were actually going through and fixing cabinets that are just broken people's rooms, because they just weren't everything wasn't done perfect. They talked about how Harland or Wolf, or I think it's.
Speaker 2:Wolf. They had people on the ship working in the machine rooms getting things dialed in, finishing things up and all that stuff, and so obviously when the Titanic went down, they went down with the ship and they talked about how Harlan and Wolf paid all their kids school bills, they fed and clothed the family for the rest of their lives, kind of thing. Like they really stepped up and took care of their employees that died on that ship. And it was like holy cow, it's not only like what a cool thing to do, but it's also what a cool thing to do in a time where just having a job was it, and it was kind of like you're a commodity, oh, you died. Oh well, like you know what I mean. Like you think about the early 1900s, that's pre-osha, that's pre-anything. They don't hard hats yet, they didn't invent them yet. Like. So for company back then to step up and say we're gonna take care of people, it's fascinating, loved it. Even better is when you get outside they actually have, uh, the tinder that was built for the titanic, so in I can't remember the name.
Speaker 2:In France there's one of the cities it's not Lahore, it's another one the port's not deep enough for Titanic, so Titanic can't get in there, but it's one they're going to go to every week. So they actually built a ship, a tender, a pretty big size one, about the size of a riverboat. Have you ever seen like a of a riverboat? Have you ever seen like a new orleans riverboat going down the? Yes, like um with the paddle wheel about that size, but no paddle wheel, um.
Speaker 2:And that was going to take the first class and some of the um second class passengers from the land to the ship. That never would have economy, it would only have those two classes. And, uh, it was actually designed by Thomas I can't remember his last name that designed the Titanic. It was built for the Titanic and so all the like, the flooring, the wall material, all that's identical to what he put in the Titanic so that you would have a uniform experience. So it's literally the closest thing any of us can actually have to having the real titanic experience, because everything is exactly authentic little things like I'd heard.
Speaker 2:You know titanic's. One of their big thing is they had linoleum floors which are brand new. Back in the day linoleum floors I always imagined my head linoleum tile floors like I had growing up. Nay, nay, this are big pieces of linoleum and they've actually gone through and cut out patterns and then put different colors of linoleum in these patterns and it was really nice. I've never seen linoleum work done like that. It was definitely not what I had in my mind about how they handled the linoleum or whatever. So little things like that. It just it was really really cool to see. Here's this thing that's built for the Titanic. Again, it's just Thomas Andrews that's who it is that designed it. So that was cool. You actually go and see that.
Speaker 1:That was kind of eerie Like a replica.
Speaker 2:But it's not a replica because it's the actual tender that was built for the.
Speaker 1:Titanic, that's what I'm saying, but I mean the materials are the same. I know so you kind of get that feeling.
Speaker 2:You definitely get the vibe of the Titanic. Yeah, you definitely feel it. I mean, they have a little champagne bar in there too, which I thought was great.
Speaker 4:You, can even tell. The design of the aluminum on the floor is different, first class versus second class. So you can always tell if you're first class, don't go past yes, or if you're second class, you can't go past here and you can tell by the floor yeah, and again, second class is like business class to us, like it's still nice, it's just not what first class has.
Speaker 2:You know what I mean?
Speaker 4:um, yeah, there's, there was a big design difference big design difference. Second was kind of bland uniform. You go into first class very elaborate.
Speaker 2:And it's all enclosed the economy or third class. I guess back then they had it Third class ship. It's gone. It doesn't exist anymore. It was smaller than this boat, held twice as many people and it was all. There was no interior, it was all just an open ferry. Wow.
Speaker 4:Did they use that for materials and equipment?
Speaker 2:Yeah, they'd bring in luggage, They'd bring the people over. If they needed any construction materials or anything for the Titanic, they'd all have gone on that ship and they'd have brought that over. And if it's a storm and whatever, well, you're just getting wet.
Speaker 1:Wow.
Speaker 2:Like crazy differences on how they handle that stuff. You know, nowadays, I mean, you can get the cheapest room on a cruise ship. You're still going to be treated like royalty. Like it's just nuts how much that's changed. But it was very cool. Really enjoyed that time. We didn't go into the city of Belfast at all, so they didn't get any of that experience, but that was really cool. Then we left there and we go to Dublin where we had our first.
Speaker 1:Wah, wah, wah, We've had our first wah, wah, wah, wah, wah, wah, wah Of the trip.
Speaker 2:The weather in Dublin was too rough and we couldn't dock or not dock, but we couldn't tender oh. So dad and my sister missed out on Dublin. That one stunk. I had booked us a trip to Jameson Distillery and I was really looking forward to having a pint of Guinness with my dad in Dublin. You know what I mean.
Speaker 2:Like it's kind of a cool thing to do and we missed out on that. But c'est la vie, it is what it is. Where did we go after that, eric? Did we go to cork after that? I think we did. Cob went to cob after that. No, we went somewhere else. I'm missing something somewhere. We went somewhere else I don't recall what it was and then we went to cob.
Speaker 2:Um they serve blue cheese with that no blue cheese but bacon and egg. It's very odd. So I went to Cobb and in Cobb I had not booked us anything to do. I looked around and I'm like there is nothing to do. The city's not close. You gotta take a train in which you can take a train in, and the train station is literally right there when you get off the boat. So they do make it convenient, but it was like walk around. A flea market was one of the things we could do and I don't know, wasn't that great? I'm looking online. Guess what's just outside of cobb I don't know dub Dublin.
Speaker 1:No but close Okay.
Speaker 2:Jameson Distilling. Oh so I'm like I'm confused. I looked it up. The Jameson Tour in Dublin is the old, old plant Okay Distillery. It's just a museum now and it's been shut down for 100 years.
Speaker 1:In Dublin.
Speaker 2:In Dublin. The one outside of Cobb is the one they're currently using. Oh, so I'm like, let me see. Sure enough, they had availability. So eric dad and I grabbed three tickets. We jumped on the train and hightailed it over to the jameson distillery. Melissa was gonna go in dublin, uh, but at the last minute there, uh, cobb, she's like I'm not really feeling it, so she didn't go with us. But that was awesome. We did this distillery tour and then for like $20 more, you could add on a premium whiskey tasting and.
Speaker 1:I'm like well, who doesn't want a premium whiskey tasting? Yeah, of course You've got to try the premium whiskey, Of course. Great.
Speaker 2:Had a great time. Really cool to see the difference in a bourbon distillery which we did a few years ago, versus an Irish whiskey.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I bet, and how they do the differences.
Speaker 2:It was really fascinating. I enjoyed it. I'm going to spare you the minutia. But I discovered two different Irish whiskeys I'd never even heard of, not never tried, never heard of them Amazing.
Speaker 1:Wow.
Speaker 2:Really impressed by them and they sell them. Amazing, wow, really impressed by them and they sell them at Kroger. They sell them at Kroger. So I'm like, score. One of them is way more expensive than I thought it was going to be Premium Whiskey Tour we'll do that to you, but no, just had a great time, really enjoyed it. We ended up coming downstairs. We had another flight of whiskey, of, of, of just the stuff that you can only buy at the distillery. Okay, none of it was worth buying. Uh, some of it was good, but none of it was worth buying. Um, and then, uh, jumped on a train and came back and, uh, how?
Speaker 1:exciting that you got to do that.
Speaker 2:Oh, it was great, but it was even greater. From Jameson to the train is about a 20-minute walk, and so we start walking back and the realization that the three of us had just had nine pours of whiskey Now, not again talking tasting. So they're very small, but it was enough. So we popped into a convenience store and we ended up getting Pringles and we got prawn cocktail.
Speaker 1:Pringles Prawn cocktail Pringles. Okay.
Speaker 2:And then we got smoked barbecue, brisket, pringles or something, and then we got regular sour cream and onion because we didn't know if those were going to taste good. We needed a backup, just in case we needed a backup for just in case. Paprika. They didn't have any of the paprika ones, man. They got so hard to find up there. I couldn't find them anywhere. Should have got them when we had them, but the prawn was so good Really. We ended up getting them later on too, Like they were so good.
Speaker 1:They taste like shrimp.
Speaker 2:No, not really, but they taste like all the seasoning you would season shrimp with.
Speaker 1:Ah, that's what they're catching me on.
Speaker 2:Yes, all that salt Salt and the the good salties. And like a little bit of the not horseradish-y and the tomato-y from the cocktail. Yeah, like all. Yeah, a little bit Old Bay kind of Outstanding it was so good. And then salt, of course, because Pringles are always salty.
Speaker 3:Yeah Of course.
Speaker 2:So we ate that to sober up on the way back, and then we literally got on the ship and went straight to dinner by the time we got back to the train, I was taking one chip from each flavor and eating them all at once, making a sandwich, yes. A Pringles sandwich it was great, it was a lot of fun, and then sailed back to Dover and Um and then, uh, sailed back to Dover and you're like, well, you finally went home right.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Nay nay, Nay nay, Another nay nay. Who's surprising you? I know it wasn't us.
Speaker 2:Uh, this time was no surprise. Aww, we jumped on a train, rode back to Heathrow, which was a cluster uh, word that we can't use on the podcast.
Speaker 1:It rhymes with duck.
Speaker 2:It does. Oh my gosh, it was a nightmare. I'm like how do you people have cruise ships in and out of here all the time and your train system to get back is this nightmare? Y'all's was easy, right, it was so easy. Horrible for us, horrible nightmare. And did they even close the Dover station? It wasn't even open. It wasn't even open. We had to ride a bus to another.
Speaker 4:Oh, anyways, and then the second we got off the bus, it started pouring down rain. It starts pouring down rain, us and our luggage.
Speaker 2:There's no covering anywhere, there's not a ticket machine. I had pre-bought tickets, but you still had to print them out. Tickets, but you still had to print them out. No tickets machine and the little kiosk was closed. The bathrooms were padlocked, anyways.
Speaker 1:And you had the whole boat doing this, uh-huh.
Speaker 2:Just 3,000 people.
Speaker 4:They had a two-level bus. They put the people on the top level and put the luggage on the bottom level. But imagine a whole bus and their luggage getting out in the pouring rain.
Speaker 2:And there was like three buses there, it wasn't just our bus.
Speaker 1:But why don't they do the train on days where ships are coming back?
Speaker 2:I don't know, that was crazy. Anyways, we take the train to London Heathrow. We get to London Heathrow, we ride the rental car bus over to the rental car station. Rented a car, drove to Edinburgh Seven and a half hours Wow. Bus over to the rental car station. Rented a car, drove to Edinburgh seven and a half hours Wow. It's a long way to go when you're fresh off a cruise ship.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it is.
Speaker 2:And then me, dad, melissa and Eric did a couple days in Edinburgh and then we drove to so my family's Irish, obviously, if you can't, or Scotch-Irish if you can't tell by the face there and we, and then we drove to so my family is Irish, obviously, if you can't, or Scotch-Irish if you can't tell by the face layer and we went to the family castle. Family castle you can't go to the castle, but you can go to the grounds. They are beautiful. And what's the name? The Drummond Castle. We actually got a big lineage thing because we are family or we are, yeah, family, that's the right word. So we got a huge lineage thing. That's like a special whatever for being part of that. That you don't normally get, but they have it for the lineage and it was great, had a great time Strolled the grounds.
Speaker 2:The largest flower garden I think I've ever seen, and it was like an Alice in Wonderland type garden, where it's all shapes, it's all shapes, it's all shapes. There's statues, the trees, a Hershey kiss. You know what I mean. Like it was stunning, stunning Statues.
Speaker 4:Oh yeah, it was great and all the circles. What do they call those?
Speaker 2:Are they called grottos, where there's like into a cave with water and stuff?
Speaker 4:Is that called a grotto?
Speaker 2:Yeah, all that Huge lake with a bridge. I mean just perfection. And of course they talked about how, like, all that was below the defense of the castle walls and you know when the peasants would come and do the whole William Wallace Braveheart thing that happened. You know all that got destroyed and then had to be rebuilt. But it was just fascinating to hear all that, see all that and actually be somewhere where it's like this is not like oh, we can only recover from here. It's like no, this really is the family home. It's just a weird. It's a weird thing to see and experience. It was really nice. I enjoyed that. And then we went to the Isle of Skye. We spent a few days at the Isle of Skye just touring around and seeing stuff. The bottom line to the Isle of Skye is there's no city. Everything closes at 8. The terrain is unbelievably beautiful, Very overcast, very overcast. We did run into the Scottish midges, which do bite there.
Speaker 2:Yes, they did there they did there Not in Iceland, but they did there. And I got to go to a scotch distillery so we did check the scotch. So we went to Talisker by the sea and did that and I think Melissa brought y'all back a little baby bottle.
Speaker 1:Right, she did. That's very thoughtful of her.
Speaker 2:I thought it was very cool Because she asked me when we were in there. She's like I want to get one for them, but I don't know which one to get and I'm like, well, they're not huge scotch drinkers, so get them this one, because they had some that were like stupid expensive. I'm like I don't think I mean no, that you would appreciate the thought behind it, but the thought, the thought's the same, even if you get the $20 or whatever, absolutely yeah um, yeah, but it was a really cool experience, I mean the whole bag was beautiful that she brought back well, the distillery was unique.
Speaker 2:It was super interesting. It was not like the other distilleries we had been to. The tasting. The tour guide was so cool. He, you know, normally they're like on the edge of the seat telling you everything, yada, yada. It's very proper. That dude went and grabbed a chair, sat down next to us, started drinking along with it.
Speaker 4:It was definitely by far the best tasting experience we've ever been in.
Speaker 2:It was super nice and just everybody in the room hit it off. Melissa tasted the scotches. It was really funny to see her try three different scotches.
Speaker 4:Remember the Benedict tonic I brought back.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 4:He's the one who suggested to get that Nice Again had a great time.
Speaker 2:It's a beautiful facility. Then went back to London Heathrow Airport, which was a 13 hour drive from there. So we split it up over two days and no, I did not realize it was that long of a drive when I planned this trip. So I get back to London Heathrow.
Speaker 1:Was the scenery beautiful on your drives? Yes, Gorgeous. Gorgeous.
Speaker 2:Gorgeous, I mean Gorgeous, oh and I did. I sneaked in a surprise for Melissa. Gorgeous, I mean gorgeous, oh and I did. I sneaked in a surprise from Melissa. I did get us over to Loch Ness, so we did actually get to see Loch Ness. No monster, but we got to see Loch Ness.
Speaker 3:I saw a monster. I take it back.
Speaker 2:I'm sorry. I'm sorry.
Speaker 1:Well, that was more of a bring your own above Vince and Patrick, you'll see the monster.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's hard to see. Can you make it the whole screen?
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's a good idea there, you go Okay, now let's look at that.
Speaker 2:Isn't that cool. It is very cool.
Speaker 1:She made that I saw that posted, and then her and I moved some trucks while Vince was out. Anyway, she asked me if I saw it and I'm like yeah, and I said was that really yours? I guess I hadn't put two and two together, that she had made it and she had placed it.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And now you're telling me where it's at. She didn't tell me that part. How cool for her, though.
Speaker 3:What an experience. I got cool updates from her all the way along the way of building it and there was one point where she wasn't going to put scales on it. I'm like you have to put the scales on it. She's like I'm not going to have time. I said you have to put the scales on it and she did.
Speaker 1:I mean it was super cool and I guess I just didn't know until this moment right here where she took it. But again, when she originally posted it I thought it was just something. You know, she's part of a lot of the crochet groups so I did think it was something she just found and thought it was cool because she's done other things.
Speaker 2:She does make other things, like last year. She won best in show for. Ohio State Fair she does some really cool stuff like that but she still hadn't done anything.
Speaker 1:But anyways, how cool for her and how sweet that you went out of the way for her to have that moment, and you know what was great.
Speaker 2:So she does this right and a tour bus pulls up right behind her and so they all walk down to the water and she has a tour bus full of people like oh my gosh, that's so cool.
Speaker 1:So now they only photo op.
Speaker 4:I think she had just enough time to take the pictures she needed before they showed up. Yes, it was hysterical.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it was great For the particular photo op. Eric and I stayed in the car and we actually watched the tour bus show up. We're like oh that's not good. We're going to be a little bit longer than we planned. Yeah, so had a great time Again. We get back to London Heathrow. We drop off the car in.
Speaker 4:We thought we saw somebody else at that same stop.
Speaker 2:I think we did. I don't know his name so I can't say it, but I'll try to remember. Maybe I'll tell you on the next episode. I'll try to remember, maybe I'll tell you on the next episode. But so we get back to Lonah Heathrow, get back to the rental car place, said goodbye to Eric and Melissa your sister, my sister, yes and literally at the rental car place, didn't even get to the hotel. I didn't even get to the airport. They had to go to a different terminal. We were in a different bus and Dad and I jumped on a bus and then we flew to uh, do a little European guys trip.
Speaker 2:He and I have not flown and done a big trip like that. Um, we've done a couple little things in the states and all through high school and middle school and all that, we did a lot of trips together, a lot of camping trips and stuff and and we just haven't done it. Uh, he and I trip in forever. I was like we're already there, we've already got. You know like the battle is the the crazy expensive tickets to get to europe. Once you're in europe, a flight's less than 100 bucks. It's really cheap to get around europe. So I'm like we're already here, let's just do this.
Speaker 2:So we took a week and we flew to barcelona and then we went to venice, and then we went to Berlin and then back to Paris and just had a guys bonding trip and so much fun. I mean, if you ever get a situation where you can do it, do it. I've got some great trips with my mom. I've talked to you, vince before, and Melissa, about me and mom going out to Tennessee and we stopped at the hotel in Memphis the— Peabody, no, the— With the little—the ducks that walk through and— no, no, no, no, no, no, I'm talking about the Civil Rights Museum. Oh, the Lorraine, the Lorraine, thank you. So, like I was with her, I went to the Hotel Lorraine. I didn't even know it was still there, she's the one that introduced it to me and all that stuff.
Speaker 2:So it's been really. If you don't know, that's where Martin Luther King was shot, Correct and so. And now it's a civil rights museum. Now it's a civil rights museum. It's an awesome place. If you get the chance, go you feel the tingles on your hair.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's not just about his assassination and his life.
Speaker 2:Correct about his assassination and his life correct. It's about civil rights. Yes, period, yeah, so, yeah, um, so I've done all that with mom and, and she's now passed, uh, so it was nice to do all that with dad and, um, hopefully get to do it again with him. I really had a blast.
Speaker 1:It was a lot of fun I think you got emotional, let's just go with this.
Speaker 1:You text us all about a moment in barcelona yeah, and I think that was cool I think what a moment to and I'll let you explain it here in a moment but for me on the outside, in what a moment to be there just period, but to share it with someone like your dad and I knew that you were doing this guy's trip for reasons um, I just thought what a unique thing that the two of you will have forever, so I will let you share. What is this really cool thing that happened in Barcelona? I will let you share.
Speaker 2:So we did a bunch in Barcelona. I had a great time. I love Barcelona. I've been there a couple times now. It's a great city. We're going to go back, can't wait. I haven't planned it, but I just know it's one of the places we're going to go back, so we're sitting on top of the hotel. It's 9 o'clock at night, the European Football Cup is going on right Championship, and it's England versus Espana, spain, espana. And so what's really fun is Barcelona is very anti-Spain, very anti Spain. It's Catalonia, it's not Spanish. They're very different cultures. People that go to Madrid and they go to Barcelona they're like oh, it's night and day difference, even though they're about the same age and they speak the same language.
Speaker 4:You'd say Northern Ireland and Ireland, exactly Minus the religion difference.
Speaker 2:Yes, correct, but they're very different culturally and they don't like each other. I mean, barcelona has Barca, which is their soccer team, and they're a really good team, but Barca wasn't in it, and so they do pull for Spain during that time and they're nuts about their football, which is soccer. So we're sitting up there at the top at this hotel. It and um they. So we're sitting up there at the top. I didn't uh, this hotel. It's a really nice viewing platform up there. They have a little bar, a swimming pool up there as well, and we're in a chair, just uh. I think I had a beer just chilling out.
Speaker 2:And we hear from across the entire city and it's a big city, it's about 3 million people, so it's big. This roar from across the entire city like insane. I've never in my life experienced anything like it. And we're like what is going on? And I told him I'm like it's got to be a football game, I can't think of anything else. And I looked it up and, sure enough, espana just got their first goal. Then it stops. We're chatting, some more Happens again and it's like what? It's like crazy. So I pull up my map. Sure enough, two points. But I did notice at that point that they had already England already scored one point. So it's England one, espana two, and you know, then it gets quiet again and so we're just sitting there enjoying our time and and.
Speaker 2:And football is so weird, like if you're loving it and more, more power to you. But they run the clock out the whole time and then they add minutes somehow and it's very confusing how they do it. And I did read some articles where people were like, yeah, that's how you know it's rigged, because it's hard to explain where those minutes come from, but anyways. So then I knew that the time had run out, but we were in this overtime period of who knows how many minutes. Anyways, then it happens Cannon fire starts going off. The roar commences again, but louder than it's ever been. Fireworks start going off, which is different than cannon fire. Cars are literally honking all across the city and it stays like that.
Speaker 2:But I finally fell asleep with earplugs in around 3.30 in the morning. It was still doing that. Oh, my goodness, it was crazy. I've never seen a group of people that go that hardcore and we're talking to this. I mean for that loud. It had to be a million people at least that were causing that much noise across the entire city, people at least that were causing that much noise across the entire city. And I mean again, you're seeing fireworks way out in the distance on every side of you, cause we were pretty central to the city, center city, and uh, it was just. It was crazy. Dad and I are like walking around trying to find everything and see where they're parading and like it gives me goosebumps.
Speaker 2:I think it'd just be super cool to see, it was very awesome. I don't know how you even planned to see that again. Like you just go to Barcelona again and hope that you win that, you win, you know.
Speaker 2:And then it was a championship, so that just escalated it so much further and everything, and so, yeah, it was great, I absolutely loved it. It was I don't know. I'm lucky and blessed that there have been a few things that we've been able to do over the years where I've been able to experience things like that. I've done it with both Jerry, I've done it with y'all, I've done it with Eric, and then to just do that with just Dad and I, it was like this is cool, this is another memory I'm not ever going to forget.
Speaker 1:I won't be able to replicate with any. Like you said, what are the odds?
Speaker 2:Exactly. Yeah, that was our memory from there, but we did do everything. We went to the Gothic Quarter. If you haven't been to Barcelona, or if you're curious, look it up, go. The Familia, segura Familia, which is the big cathedral in the middle that they're still building. They've been building on for 100 years. It is unbelievably gorgeous. It is by far my favorite cathedral of every church I've ever been to by far my favorite, eric, would you agree. It is just like stunning.
Speaker 4:The only one that compares to it is the Vatican, and then it's a completely different style.
Speaker 2:Completely different experience. But yes, I agree with you, and so I did that. Went out to a monastery with my dad, out in Barcelona, I mean just had a great trip. Went to Venice, did the middle of the heat wave oh my gosh, it was so hot, it was miserable, it was just miserably hot. We made the best of it, we rallied, but miserably hot, I mean just like the box of a Panther truck. Yes, yes, nice Throwback to last episode.
Speaker 1:I know right.
Speaker 2:It was crazy hot. And then we went uh, we went to Berlin, which I mean you got. As soon as we got off the plane in Berlin, dad was like, well, this feels nicer, Like it was just so much cooler in Berlin, got to see that wall, which was cool because I had just seen Belfast's wall. So I'm like, oh, this is cool that I actually get to see the difference in the two and just really see what. You know, hitler wasn't a good thing and you know, we learned a little bit on a tour about how he gained his power, what the political situation was, how it allowed him to come to power and what they were doing and a lot about their culture. And it's really fascinating. I was worried that I wouldn't like it because there's not a lot of tourist things to do there, because we blew them up in the World War II.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And then the Russians did a good job of finishing the job with East and West Germany, but no, actually quite a bit Very knowledgeable, enjoyed it, had some great food. That also surprised me. I was really thinking German food. We're going to have sausage and potatoes and sauerkraut every night.
Speaker 2:Oh my gosh, I had some of the best food. Did I send you some pictures? You did. Yeah, they have a thing called currywurst. It's the sausage with ketchup and then curry powder. It sounds so simple. It is dynamite, just all kinds of fun stuff, did that? Then we went to Paris. We were in Paris four days before the Olympics started. It was a madhouse.
Speaker 1:So I bet.
Speaker 2:Did get to go to the Eiffel Tower, which I was scared we weren't Did get to go to it. It was very locked down. If you didn't have a ticket you couldn't get on property period. But we were able to go there, do the whole summit, everything. I was nervous oh, they're only going to let us go up so much. We got to do everything. We're.
Speaker 2:Celine Dion was standing and singing and the camera, that's like, going way out and doing all those shots. We watched him hanging it and testing the cameras and getting all that stuff ready. So it was really cool to see all that happen. On the opening ceremony, yeah, but to see, like, like, put it together, I didn't know Celine Dion was going to be singing there. I just knew they were in a camera on a stage. And then, you know, on our way to the Notre Dame, there were all these dancers dancing in water and we couldn't figure out what they were doing. But then you see it on the opening ceremony. It's like, oh, okay, that's really cool. I see now what they were doing and the only thing that we couldn't get to was the Louvre. The Louvre was just like the Eiffel Tower If you didn't have a ticket you couldn't get in and, as I said before we're we're not doing a ticket to the Louvre because it's so overwhelming. We had two and a half days there, not enough time.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:But everything else was great. Got to see everything else, got to accomplish everything else. Went to one Michelin star restaurant with my dad there as well, had a wonderful experience and really just had a great time. While we're talking about Paris, I want to add on something to last week's conversation, where I said Eric and I went to Paris a few weeks prior to this.
Speaker 2:We went to the Moulin Rouge. Ooh, can I say, it was excellent. I had no idea what to expect. I'm like I know it's kind of a burlesque show, but it includes a four-course dinner. Yeah, it's world famous for this movie, but is it any good? You know, reviews are very polarizing online and I had such a fun time. The food was great. Eric, what did you think when you were there?
Speaker 4:It was overwhelming To see like 25, 30 plus people all on stage dancing at the same time.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 4:I'm trying to compare it to the one we saw in Cuba. I think it's better than that.
Speaker 2:It's very. Yeah, I think it was better than the one in Cuba, but not by much. But it was better than the one that we saw in Cuba, but it was bigger, it had air conditioning. Things like that made a difference.
Speaker 4:We sat at a table for four and we made friends with the couple sitting next to us.
Speaker 2:Oh, we did. Oh, that was great. So the people next to us?
Speaker 4:Young kids.
Speaker 2:Young kids Boyfriend, girlfriend. She's there in college, he's already through trade school back home and he's a plumber now and he works for his dad's company. Is he going to take over? I don't know why. I told you all that, but now you know. So we just hit it off, had a great time bantering back and forth with them, we laughed and all this stuff, and at first it was really odd. Yeah, the tables are like literally two inches apart from each other, so it's separate, but like not really.
Speaker 4:And you didn't even have enough room for a cup to fall between them.
Speaker 2:Exactly so it was kind of weird, but then again we hit it off, so quick it was over with, and behind me, where the other table was, was the fight of the century.
Speaker 1:Really, patrick couldn't see their table didn't get along.
Speaker 2:The husband and wife didn't get along.
Speaker 4:Oh, oh, oh. Patrick couldn't see because it was behind him, and I couldn't see because Patrick was in front of me. But the girl next to me, she saw everything.
Speaker 2:I called bits and pieces. I saw him walk out at one point and then he came back and then I knew he, and then I felt him leave, because it's very tight, so you feel people kind of rubbing against you as they walk not bad, not bad, but you do notice it. And so I noticed he got up, and this time he brought his jacket with him, because it is a bad, but you do notice it. And so I noticed he got up and this thing, he brought his jacket with him, because it is a nice place, you do dress up for this place.
Speaker 2:And then, uh, she stayed for a little bit like crying at the table and then she got up and left and it was like what? Just like it was super strange, super weird. They had a huge fight and, um, when it was all said and done, they were sitting next to people, so we just asked them what happened and the lady there didn't speak great English, so she was trying her best to explain the whole situation or whatever. And it was like holy cow, I cannot believe. We're at this festive, upbeat, exciting, theatrical, very expensive performance and they're having like the flight of the century.
Speaker 2:I'm like couldn't you wait till like after I, just I don't know.
Speaker 1:Or sit there in silence, right and greet each other and then, like you said, have it after.
Speaker 2:Oh, it's too bad for them. Yeah, too bad for them. It's always fun to make friends, though I hope they put it back together. But it was fun to make friends, though I hope they put it back together, but it was fun to make friends and, of course, it was really fun to gossip about that.
Speaker 4:So we wish that young couple well, the show itself, the costumes, the colors, the lighting, the size of the stage it is, and you would think, just people dancing. They also had different performances in between.
Speaker 2:Yes, like Cirque du Soleil style acts.
Speaker 4:Oh, really yeah. So it was like in stages.
Speaker 2:Yes, that's cool yeah. And it was a nice running theme. It was very cool. I will say this If you go there and you're thinking about going, keep in mind it is a real burlesque show. So it is.
Speaker 4:Don't take children. You will see stuff, don't take children.
Speaker 2:It is definitely topless for part of it, so you know if it's not your thing, don't go. You won't enjoy it, because I did see a lot of people online going. I didn't know and I don't want you to take this review the wrong way. If you are okay with that, it's a great time. There's nothing like raunchy at all it's very classy, but it is still Nothing intentionally sexual Correct? Yeah, nothing at all. Which is crazy. You'd think it would be, but it's really not.
Speaker 1:But I think it's part of the burlesque.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Like if you know history of burlesque, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 4:Even a section of the show. I got a little sentimental If you look at the colors of the French flag.
Speaker 2:It's American.
Speaker 4:If it's not on the flag, it's red, white and blue. So I thought they got a whole performance just for us.
Speaker 2:Oh my gosh, it literally felt like Red, white and blue. Yeah, so that section it felt like a 1940s, you know American town hall with the girls dancing in the big dresses and everything Like it really kind of had that vibe. It was very cool, but yeah, so again, it's a great time if you're ever inviting yourself in Paris and you're warned. You've been warned about that, but the rest of the experience is fantastic. And then we flew home. Flying home was fairly uneventful and well, nothing got canceled.
Speaker 2:That's not true. We had, while we were there, if you remember, Delta and everybody else had a meltdown.
Speaker 1:Microsoft meltdown Microsoft meltdown, yeah.
Speaker 2:So we were in Paris looking at this, going like, oh, I hope we can fly home. And we did fly home. Four hours late, got to JFK, just knew we weren't going to make the flight. There's no way we're going to make the connection. But immigration went through lightning quick, customs went through really quick, our luggage came out really quick and I'm like we might make this flight. So we dropped the bags off.
Speaker 2:When I dropped the bags off, there was a little bit of hassle. So I told dad go, just go to TSA, get on the plane. If I don't make it, I'll fly tomorrow, but just just go. So he did. And, um, the lady said she worked it all out. She was like I can't get your bags on this flight, it's too close to call uh, but I can put them on a flight for tomorrow and you'll just get them later. You know, whatever. And I'm like, done, make it. So, um, and so then I had to run, uh, I at JFK, at the terminal, there's a recheck area you can go to on the first floor. It was closed, so like to go through TSA. So I actually had to go all the way up to the top through the main TSA and I'm like I'm not going to make it, it's just not going to happen.
Speaker 2:I got through TSA precheck fairly quick and then I'm texting dad. I already told dad I was in line at TSA, I'm at TSA. If you get there, let me know. He's like I'm here now. I said, well, let them know, I'm on my way. I got held up but I'm on my way and he let him know and I'm running through duty free. I'm elbowing people out of my way. I knocked someone down an escalator. It it was just madhouse. He's calling me while I'm running. They want to know where you're at, because they really got to close this door and I'm like I'm at gate seven. Just tell them to hold it a little bit longer. And I'm literally running through jfk terminal four uh, it was. I've not had to do that in a very long time and I get down there. As I get down, because there's an escalator to a lower level they're like is Patrick Lee in the building? If?
Speaker 2:Patrick Lee is in the building we are about to close the door. We need you here at the gate immediately. And as she's making that announcement, they're like staring at the escalator to see if I'm coming down. And I see them and I wave and she sees me, she waves back and I'm like, so I like, so I did a little sprint over to the gate. She said patrick, and I said yeah, she scanned my boarding pass.
Speaker 2:I got on that jet bridge. I'd never felt more accomplished in my life than stepping on that jet bridge. I got through there. I was so late. They had already given my seat to someone else and so I had to take a different seat. So I sat down. I had a window seat, which it's nice to have, a window seat but like I am drenched head to toe in sweat, I'm nasty, I'm tired, I have to use the bathroom really badly, but I can't because we're leaving 10,000 feet. So it's 10,000 feet. It was crazy, yeah. But you know what Got home, my luggage actually missed the flight the next day it was supposed to do. Oh, my goodness. So because they delayed it an extra day, Delta brought my luggage to the house.
Speaker 2:I didn't have to go back to the airport and pick it up. So that was really nice. I kind of won on that one, yeah, so that's been my adventure. It was a crazy time in Europe. I thank all of y'all for letting me have this time out. Look, I was gone for a long time. I don't take that for granted. I know it's only because highfield has such a strong backbone of of staff and such quality teams that enabled me to make this happen, and I'm really appreciated. Thank you all so much for letting us have this time. Thank you for letting me have the time my, my dad. It was a really wonderful trip. I will not be doing it next year. I have so many traveling international. We do have a trip coming up next year, but it won't be during summertime and it won't be for anywhere near as long, but it was a great summer, I feel like you hit the ground running, though even when you got back home, Summer's not quite over.
Speaker 2:I have and I'll tell you about that. But first I want to hear, while it's still on Chili's mind. I want to hear all about your exciting trip. It's the Vokeshires over here. We haven't heard from you. I understand that y'all got the opportunity to go down to the country's little town in Ohio.
Speaker 1:Oh, the country's little town.
Speaker 2:Cincinnati for a game right.
Speaker 3:We did. We got invited by one of our vendors to a baseball game.
Speaker 2:Well, that's all the time we have, unfortunately. So if you want to hear the rest of this story, you need to hang out and listen to part three of Highfield's summer recap. I'm sorry, the Outer Belts, I don't even know what time it is day it is. It's almost 1 am. We are all just, we are shot. We've had 19 shots of espresso in these outtakes that y'all haven't seen. It's crazy. But no, I don't mean to cut you off, but I am going to. But you meant to.
Speaker 4:I meant to.
Speaker 2:I get it. I mean, we talked about it. We did talk about it, it was all set up ahead of time. But we are going to do part three. I know a couple of these stories. I don't know a couple of these stories. They've been saving some of this stuff for the show, so I look forward to hearing some of this stuff with y'all as well.
Speaker 3:I look forward to sharing with all of you.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yes, hang on, strap on. We're going to do one more of these, I think I think part three and then we'll be back to your regularly scheduled programming. In the meantime, please like, share, subscribe, give a thumbs up If you don't like we're doing, give us thumbs down. Um, if you have an idea that, hey, I want y'all to talk about this on the outer belt this season, um, I tell you one thing I'm really curious about. If you've made it this far, we'll find I made this far. I don't know if we should continue patrick's weight loss journey or not, so I am a little torn question. I'm interested to hear what the audience has to say, if we should keep doing it or not, because I'm ready to eat. But thank y'all so much for supporting us over the years. It's season 3, I can't believe it. We made it this far. This is insane and let's keep pressing on. I can't wait to finish out the year strong with y'all.
Speaker 2:Get into next year, do it all again. Got a lot of stuff happening this year. We got a whole presidential election. It's going to be a fun year, fun season, that's right. If you have any ideas, drop us a comment. If you prefer to email us or list you want to send to us. You can reach us at TheOuterBeltPodcast at gmailcom. That is the Outer Belt Podcast at gmailcom. One more time, the Outer Belt Podcast at gmailcom, not to be confused with anything else?
Speaker 2:That was a trick question. In the meantime, everybody stay safe, make good decisions, don't leave money on the table.
Speaker 3:And keep those wheels turning.
Speaker 1:Bye, come back next week, thank you.