Well everyone I believe this will be my last blog post on here seeing as I fly home for the States on Saturday. But before I say goodbye to this amazing trip I'll fill you in on the past week.
Last Wednesday my parents flew in to London and with perfect timing by me of course I got there right as they were walking out of customs. I got them safely around London and set the up with tube passes and directions to their hotel since I had a final I had to study for. I knew I wouldn't see them until the next day because their jet lag would kick in and they would likely be out for the night shortly anyways =) As I later found out I was right...they were out by I think 7 o'clock.
The next day was our tourist day and I took my parents to see Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, Houses of Parliament, Tower Bridge, London Bridge, The Eye, a couple pubs, and ended up at Tower of London. The following day we saw the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace... more like just a bunch of people walking around. Was very anticlimactic to be completely honest. After that we walked through the gardens to Harrod's where we walked through and saw all the Princess Diana monuments within Harrod's and did a small bit of shopping. After that I took them through Hyde Park and gave them directions back to their hotel so they could get ready to go see Blood Brothers.
On Saturday we went to the service at St. Paul's Cathedral and got to see some amazing views inside of it. After that we went to dinner and then to bed for an early night since we had to get up early to leave for Paris! The train left at the incredibly early hour of 8ish, and I slept the entire way. In Paris we went around and saw the Louvre, The Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame and basically all the sights I saw before. We had some delicious meals and had a nice relaxing couple of days! I am still in love with the city of Paris, it is by far one of the better cities I saw even though each one had its own individual atmosphere.
Well everyone I hope you've enjoyed reading about my travels and happenings while abroad! It won't be long now before I'm back on the same side of the pond as all you! I better get back to packing up my stuff so I'm not scrambling around last minute on Friday... It has been an INCREDIBLE time these past few months and I would not change a thing! Cheers and I'm sure I'll bee seeing all of you shortly! Thanks for reading and following along!!!
Thursday, April 14, 2011
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
The Eternal City
Sorry this post is a little later than I thought, I had some complications I had to attend to first. More on that later, for now I have to say Roma was an amazing city! There was four of us that went, I was there from Friday to Sunday night. Friday we arrived late afternoon and met up with our friend who had arrived earlier in the day. We walked to our hostel which was actually really nice. It was more of a small apartment because we had a floor to ourself with a full bathroom down the hallway. Also we had breakfast delivered to our door each morning at 9am. Friday we just decided to stroll around our local area which was right around Termini Station and checked out all the shops. There were tons of little street vendors that were selling fake watches, purses and belt buckles. I was tempted to buy one of the fake watches but could never find the guy selling them again, slightly disappointed. But as it got nearer to dinner time we found a restaurant and had what else... PASTA! I had tortellini, which was absolutely delicious, my friends had spaghetti, and lasagna.
After dinner we walked around to explore a bit more before going to sleep. Saturday we set aside for our tourist day. We woke up for breakfast and then everyone showered, got ready and we headed out for the Vatican! One bad thing about Rome, their metro system only has two lines. One goes north and south, the other east and west. This makes things slightly annoying to get around but we nevertheless made it over to the Vatican. Before we went in we became hungry again (breakfast was coffee and a croissant) so we found this little pizza parlor and ordered some food. Yes we were being typical tourists and trying to get anything authentic Italian =). The pizza's came out and it was HUGE and delicious! Also one of the guys I was traveling with decided to get a liter of beer, I don't think he knew exactly how large a liter is. After lunch we strolled along into the Vatican Museum and saw the Sistine Chapel, amazing place and very beautiful. The famous part of the Sistine Chapel ceiling that everyone thinks of is actually much smaller than I originally thought. It only takes a very small portion right in the middle, I thought it took up more of the ceiling than it did. Regardless it was still an amazing sight to see and will remember it forever. After leaving the museum we went to St. Peter's square and went into St. Peter's. Inside was absolutely gorgeous, it had tall arched ceilings and beautiful statues, paintings and architecture everywhere! Next we went down into the tombs of the Pope's where I saw Pope John Paul II tomb and all of the flowers and messages people have left. Quite an amazing moment to be standing there. Once we were done with St. Peter's we decided to go to the famous Trevi fountain.
The Trevi fountain was an amazing place to just sit and relax, but we only stayed for a little before heading back to the room and took a nap after a long day of walking. We ended up sleeping for about two hours and when we woke up we went out to a pub where we had some delicious beers! They were mainly a mix of German and Italian beers.
Saturday we woke up and headed out to the Colosseum, Roman Forum, and Pantheon. The Colosseum was very impressive and quite the sight to see. The weather was absolutely beautiful both days we were there in the 70's. We walked everywhere on Saturday and by the time we had to leave I was exhausted. We caught a bus shuttle around 7 to the airport and headed back to London on our flight. The trip was a great time and the city was absolutely gorgeous to walk around in! I'll put some pictures up to give you guys some idea of what I saw. Well now I have to go take some finals and it's basically the last thing to do before my parents are here! Until next time!
After dinner we walked around to explore a bit more before going to sleep. Saturday we set aside for our tourist day. We woke up for breakfast and then everyone showered, got ready and we headed out for the Vatican! One bad thing about Rome, their metro system only has two lines. One goes north and south, the other east and west. This makes things slightly annoying to get around but we nevertheless made it over to the Vatican. Before we went in we became hungry again (breakfast was coffee and a croissant) so we found this little pizza parlor and ordered some food. Yes we were being typical tourists and trying to get anything authentic Italian =). The pizza's came out and it was HUGE and delicious! Also one of the guys I was traveling with decided to get a liter of beer, I don't think he knew exactly how large a liter is. After lunch we strolled along into the Vatican Museum and saw the Sistine Chapel, amazing place and very beautiful. The famous part of the Sistine Chapel ceiling that everyone thinks of is actually much smaller than I originally thought. It only takes a very small portion right in the middle, I thought it took up more of the ceiling than it did. Regardless it was still an amazing sight to see and will remember it forever. After leaving the museum we went to St. Peter's square and went into St. Peter's. Inside was absolutely gorgeous, it had tall arched ceilings and beautiful statues, paintings and architecture everywhere! Next we went down into the tombs of the Pope's where I saw Pope John Paul II tomb and all of the flowers and messages people have left. Quite an amazing moment to be standing there. Once we were done with St. Peter's we decided to go to the famous Trevi fountain.
The Trevi fountain was an amazing place to just sit and relax, but we only stayed for a little before heading back to the room and took a nap after a long day of walking. We ended up sleeping for about two hours and when we woke up we went out to a pub where we had some delicious beers! They were mainly a mix of German and Italian beers.
Saturday we woke up and headed out to the Colosseum, Roman Forum, and Pantheon. The Colosseum was very impressive and quite the sight to see. The weather was absolutely beautiful both days we were there in the 70's. We walked everywhere on Saturday and by the time we had to leave I was exhausted. We caught a bus shuttle around 7 to the airport and headed back to London on our flight. The trip was a great time and the city was absolutely gorgeous to walk around in! I'll put some pictures up to give you guys some idea of what I saw. Well now I have to go take some finals and it's basically the last thing to do before my parents are here! Until next time!
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Coming to a Close
Well everyone thought I'd give you a little midweek update. I leave for Rome tomorrow until Sunday night! I'm excited to see all the ancient Roman buildings cause I took a class on Ancient Roman culture. I'll try to use the little knowledge I've retained as I walk around. I will take plenty of pictures no worries Sis!Little sad because this is my last true trip! I go to Paris with my parents next week (but I'm not really counting places I've already been to haha). So check in either late (for me at least) Sunday night or sometime Monday to see the post.
Crazy to think that 2 weeks from Saturday will be my flight back home to the States. Little tear comes to my eye when I say that =(. But my parents come in Wednesday for a week and then 4 days after they leave it's my flight home! Slightly ruins the reunion factor when I go back to the States but it's ok haha. Wish I could stay a little longer but I've enjoyed my time here so much! So check back in at the end of the weekend to hear allllll about ROMA! But for right now it's time to go celebrate my last day of work with my co-workers at a pub around the corner! CHEERS!!
Crazy to think that 2 weeks from Saturday will be my flight back home to the States. Little tear comes to my eye when I say that =(. But my parents come in Wednesday for a week and then 4 days after they leave it's my flight home! Slightly ruins the reunion factor when I go back to the States but it's ok haha. Wish I could stay a little longer but I've enjoyed my time here so much! So check back in at the end of the weekend to hear allllll about ROMA! But for right now it's time to go celebrate my last day of work with my co-workers at a pub around the corner! CHEERS!!
Sunday, March 27, 2011
Lords, Baguettes, Eiffel Tower and Relaxation: The life of a lucky kid in London
As promised all, I said I'd do have this post up on Sunday since I've been slacking! This actually comes at a nice breaking point for me from my paper (4,500/7,500 words). We'll start off with my trip to the Houses of Parliament!
So as my sort of going away/thank you present my boss set up a surprise for the entire office. Only she knew where we were going and basically gave them a half day in order to go along with. Last Tuesday I strolled into the office at 2:30 as I was instructed and everyone was there all dressed up and ready to go. Our boss led the way to the Tube station nearby work and had us all guess which stop we were getting off at. My co-worker and I both guessed Westminster (where Big Ben, Houses of Parliament and Westminster Abbey are). We turned out to be right. We got off the Tube and went in this side/private entrance into the House of Parliament to meet up with the Lord who would be showing us around and a friend of my boss. We start off by having to go through security and get a picture ID tag for the day (yes I kept the ID). Next Lord Tom (sorry that's all I got from anyone, don't know his full name. Know he is part of the Labour party though) showed us all around the Houses of Parliament, taking us through the sights that tourists can see to private areas where only Lords are allowed. I got to see the library within Parliament which had books reaching the top of a room that must have been 2 stories tall. We sat in both the House of Lords and House of Commons to listen to the topics up for discussion for the day. Lord Tom took us into where the Queen enters the Houses of Parliament for her ceremonies and where she stages and processes out from to talk to the Houses. In that room were gorgeous paintings and of course the Queen's throne (not the actual one though, sad I know).
So as my sort of going away/thank you present my boss set up a surprise for the entire office. Only she knew where we were going and basically gave them a half day in order to go along with. Last Tuesday I strolled into the office at 2:30 as I was instructed and everyone was there all dressed up and ready to go. Our boss led the way to the Tube station nearby work and had us all guess which stop we were getting off at. My co-worker and I both guessed Westminster (where Big Ben, Houses of Parliament and Westminster Abbey are). We turned out to be right. We got off the Tube and went in this side/private entrance into the House of Parliament to meet up with the Lord who would be showing us around and a friend of my boss. We start off by having to go through security and get a picture ID tag for the day (yes I kept the ID). Next Lord Tom (sorry that's all I got from anyone, don't know his full name. Know he is part of the Labour party though) showed us all around the Houses of Parliament, taking us through the sights that tourists can see to private areas where only Lords are allowed. I got to see the library within Parliament which had books reaching the top of a room that must have been 2 stories tall. We sat in both the House of Lords and House of Commons to listen to the topics up for discussion for the day. Lord Tom took us into where the Queen enters the Houses of Parliament for her ceremonies and where she stages and processes out from to talk to the Houses. In that room were gorgeous paintings and of course the Queen's throne (not the actual one though, sad I know).
The cherry on the top though was the fact that we got to have tea in the tea room reserved for Lords and MP's. This experience was surreal, it was my boss, 3 co-workers, me, Lord Tom, a friend of his and 2 other MP's who joined us. The table was laid out with gold and silver trays filled with finger sandwiches, delicious scones, and desserts! You could order any type of tea in the world (I went with earl grey) and they would surely have it and bring you your own kettle. A little later during tea the head fundraiser for Tony Blair stopped by and talked to my boss and Lord Tom. Also one of the MP's that was having tea with us talks to all the heads of states frequently and just returned from an 8 day long trip in NYC. After talking with him about my program, politics, and random topics I found out that his son goes to Vanderbilt. After tea we got to go into a choir room underneath the Houses which only people in the choir or Lords and their guests can get into. You weren't supposed to take pictures but since there were only 6 of us I sneaked a couple in! This entire experience was unbelievable and one that I'll remember for the rest of my life!
After experiencing Houses of Parliament in a way few others could it's hard to imagine anything topping it but Paris definitely did. This weekend (Thurs-Sat night) I was in Paris with a friend from the program. Our hotel was right across the river from Notre Dame so we wondered over there after we checked in and saw a spectacular light show on the face of Notre Dame!! The one we saw was a replay from an event earlier so it did not have the sound/commentary but it was behind words how amazing it was. I'll post pictures but trying to describe it would never do it justice. The event ran only Thursday, Friday night and luckily we got to catch the light show both nights!
Friday we decided to sleep in a little and then we headed out for the Louvre Museum in the gorgeous, sunny 65 degree weather. We spent a good three and a half hours in the Louvre and saw all the major things: Mona Lisa, Aphrodite, French Revolution painting, etc. afterwards we got some baguette sandwiches, which were delicious, and sat in the gardens right outside the Louvre. We then strolled around the area until night time where we went to eat at Cafe du Pont Neuf. Once we were done eating we went to see the Eiffel Tower lit up at night. A spectacular sight and a must do if anyone is every in Paris. It was farm more impressive than what I thought it was going to be and movies, pictures, and stories is nothing like seeing it with your own eyes. After that we went to catch the light show for the second time (but this time with sound) and it was even better than the first night. Once that ended we just hung around our Hotel area which was the Latin Quarter before going to bed.
Saturday we dedicated to relaxing so after sleeping in a little we went to the Eiffel tower to go allllll the way to the top observation deck. 669 stairs, 2 observation deck, and an elevator ride later we reached the top most observation deck. AMAZING sights on a sunny and slightly cloudy day of Paris. The view was impeccable and we spent our sweet time on every level. After we descended back to the ground we laid in the grass right next to the Eiffel tower for a good 45mins just enjoying the weather and the sights of the Eiffel Tower. Once we got up we decided to head to the Champs Elysees, buuutttt the weather decided to turn and started pouring rain! We saw the Champs Elysees from afar the day before so we decided to give up trying to make it over there since we were cutting it close to getting back in time for our train as it was. We went back to our Hotel to pick up our bags when we realized my friends passport was missing... After a frantic 30 mins she finally found it in her makeup bag, we still have no clue how it got there. After that we bought our last minute souvenirs and headed to the train station to return to London. I can't wait to return to Paris in 2 weeks with my parents as it is the best city I have been to by far! I'll put some pictures up so that you guys can see some of the things we did. Hope you guys enjoyed the read! Cheers!
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Lords, MP's and PARIS!!!
So sorry all!!!! I know I have been slacking severely on this blog but things have started coming fast and furious to finish up this semester! I've had to write this 7500 dissertation and a couple other papers. But fear not I have plenty of stories to update everyone with after I get back from Paris this weekend. Yes that's right tonight I leave on a the Eurostar and get to go through the chunnel to Paris. Something to look forward to when I get back though is my experience of getting a private tour AND TEA with some Lord's and MP's of Parliament!! Exciting stuff but that is all for when I return, so check in again on Sunday and I'll try to have everything up from the past couple weeks! Cheers!
Sunday, March 6, 2011
Beginning of the End
Good evening all! So it came to my realization the other day that I only have roughly 6 weeks left here in London town =(. What made this more frightening is that in two weekends I'll be in Paris, then in three weekends I'll be in Rome, then the weekend after that my parents will be back in town/back to Paris with them for a little. Man these next 6 weeks are going to fly by! Also in that time I have to write a 25 page paper, take some finals, and go to work. Before i know it I'll be back in the States!
This past weekend wasn't all the eventful for me only thing we really did was go out to celebrate one of our roommates 21st birthday. Other than that I stayed in and tried writing my papers which kinda worked out... Then today I went to the pub nearby to watch the Manchester United game which they ended up losing so that didn't help make the day too bright but for once we're getting a streak of decent weather here in London! Lately it has been clear skies, sunny, and about 50's. Forgot to mention if anyone does wind up making to London would definitely recommend spending a day around Hyde Park (depending on the time of year). A friend and I went down there and just hung around the water and people watched for a good chunk of the day. Was very relaxing and was a good chance to enjoy the cool but sunny weather! Just watch out for the swans they are the sizes of small children and will try chasing you if you don't give them bread. Also there were paddle boats you could rent out and take up the small lake that is in the middle of Hyde Park, seemed to be relaxing as long as it's nice out.
Not too much is on the schedule for this week but if anything exciting happens (which I do have one idea, we'll see if it happens) I'll let you guys know! Hope everyone has a good week!
This past weekend wasn't all the eventful for me only thing we really did was go out to celebrate one of our roommates 21st birthday. Other than that I stayed in and tried writing my papers which kinda worked out... Then today I went to the pub nearby to watch the Manchester United game which they ended up losing so that didn't help make the day too bright but for once we're getting a streak of decent weather here in London! Lately it has been clear skies, sunny, and about 50's. Forgot to mention if anyone does wind up making to London would definitely recommend spending a day around Hyde Park (depending on the time of year). A friend and I went down there and just hung around the water and people watched for a good chunk of the day. Was very relaxing and was a good chance to enjoy the cool but sunny weather! Just watch out for the swans they are the sizes of small children and will try chasing you if you don't give them bread. Also there were paddle boats you could rent out and take up the small lake that is in the middle of Hyde Park, seemed to be relaxing as long as it's nice out.
Not too much is on the schedule for this week but if anything exciting happens (which I do have one idea, we'll see if it happens) I'll let you guys know! Hope everyone has a good week!
Monday, February 28, 2011
Midterms and No Spring Break??
So tomorrow is the first mid term of this semester abroad. No clue how easy or hard it is going to be but studying for it none the less. Little sad to find out that we also get no Spring Break while we are abroad. The University we are studying at gets a Spring Break but our classes that run through a US college are still going on. Other than that not much is going on. I need some new ideas for easy/simple things to cook at my flat, I'm getting sick of pasta with chicken. So please if you have any suggestions leave a comment with how to make it and what I need to buy for it! Well this post was basically just a study break for me I guess I should get back to it! Hope everyone is doing well back in the States, sadly it's not too much longer til I'm back. 6 weeks! Until next time!
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Visiting the Homeland!
Dia dhuit or Hello in Gaelic! I just got back from Dublin and it was AMAZING!!! The Irish are so friendly and helping. At the first glance of confusion there is someone that stops and asks what you're looking for or if you need some help. I went with one other girl that is on my program and we packed in a lot in 3 days. We left Thursday night and checked into our hostel. The hostel was actually really clean and nice for the price we paid. Sadly I did not get any pictures of our room the first night, but it was a very fun atmosphere with free breakfast every morning! After checking in we went down the street and found a bar and just hung out and talked to some locals. Sad part is that since Ireland is in a bad financial states drinks were a weeeee bit expensive this weekend!
On Friday we got up decently early to head over to the Guinness Brewery and did the tour. We also shelled out the extra 7 euro to learn the history about Guinness, get tastings of all their beers, and of course to become experts at pouring the Guinness draft from the tap! There were about 9 of us total learning from these 2 experts who talked about how Guinness was started, how the beer was made, and how you are supposed to drink Guinness. Yes there is a specific way you are supposed to drink the beer to get the full flavor of the beer. Fun fact, the Irish used to give those who gave blood a pint of Guinness after they donated blood because the Guinness draft helps the iron content in your blood is has natural vitamins! I would recommend if anyone is ever in Dublin to shell out and do the extra private session, especially you Pat. We got 3 sample tastings then a complimentary pint of Guinness draft that we poured on our own after learning the 6 step method of the proper way to pour it from the draft. After become experts on Guinness we did the self guided tour of the area and learned all about the brewing process (most of which I knew in a general basis thanks to Pat). The entire place was huge and best part of all with our admission we got to go up to the Gravity Bar atop the factory which has a 360 degree view of Dublin. Since it was a decent day out it was simply amazing to look out onto Dublin with no impeded views!! After Guinness we went back to the Hostel took a nap then headed out for the night.
Saturday we woke up and decided to have a relaxing day and went on a tour of Dublin castle, then walked along the river Liffey to the docklands area. It was simply gorgeous out, sun shining, small amount of clouds and warm! It was a wonderful break from the always gray and windy London. We learned a great deal about the origins of Dublin and how the name actually came from a series of cultures not understanding what the previous one was saying. The vikings who originally founded the city called it Dufflin which meant Black Pool, due to a pool of water that was black near their castle. When the English came they heard the name and thought the vikings were saying Dublin. Thus the name stuck and it has forever been called Dublin. After the tour of Dublin Castle we went into the gift shop and of course I found things all around the store with the McLaughlin family name on it. Best of all you could purchase certificates that gave the history of the name, motto, famous lineage in it (as in kings and etc.) and coat of arms. While it was quite expensive to buy that, the best part was that the example that was on display was of course the McLaughlin last name. It was like I was meant to go through the store. In the end I bought a shot glass with McLaughlin on it along with the family crest! Along our walk of the River Liffey, we saw Christchurch, St. Peter's, Temple Bar area, and monuments to the Famine.
On Friday we got up decently early to head over to the Guinness Brewery and did the tour. We also shelled out the extra 7 euro to learn the history about Guinness, get tastings of all their beers, and of course to become experts at pouring the Guinness draft from the tap! There were about 9 of us total learning from these 2 experts who talked about how Guinness was started, how the beer was made, and how you are supposed to drink Guinness. Yes there is a specific way you are supposed to drink the beer to get the full flavor of the beer. Fun fact, the Irish used to give those who gave blood a pint of Guinness after they donated blood because the Guinness draft helps the iron content in your blood is has natural vitamins! I would recommend if anyone is ever in Dublin to shell out and do the extra private session, especially you Pat. We got 3 sample tastings then a complimentary pint of Guinness draft that we poured on our own after learning the 6 step method of the proper way to pour it from the draft. After become experts on Guinness we did the self guided tour of the area and learned all about the brewing process (most of which I knew in a general basis thanks to Pat). The entire place was huge and best part of all with our admission we got to go up to the Gravity Bar atop the factory which has a 360 degree view of Dublin. Since it was a decent day out it was simply amazing to look out onto Dublin with no impeded views!! After Guinness we went back to the Hostel took a nap then headed out for the night.
Saturday we woke up and decided to have a relaxing day and went on a tour of Dublin castle, then walked along the river Liffey to the docklands area. It was simply gorgeous out, sun shining, small amount of clouds and warm! It was a wonderful break from the always gray and windy London. We learned a great deal about the origins of Dublin and how the name actually came from a series of cultures not understanding what the previous one was saying. The vikings who originally founded the city called it Dufflin which meant Black Pool, due to a pool of water that was black near their castle. When the English came they heard the name and thought the vikings were saying Dublin. Thus the name stuck and it has forever been called Dublin. After the tour of Dublin Castle we went into the gift shop and of course I found things all around the store with the McLaughlin family name on it. Best of all you could purchase certificates that gave the history of the name, motto, famous lineage in it (as in kings and etc.) and coat of arms. While it was quite expensive to buy that, the best part was that the example that was on display was of course the McLaughlin last name. It was like I was meant to go through the store. In the end I bought a shot glass with McLaughlin on it along with the family crest! Along our walk of the River Liffey, we saw Christchurch, St. Peter's, Temple Bar area, and monuments to the Famine.
St. James' Gate
Me pouring my perfect pint
The SURGE! The teacher was impressed with how well I did
Guinness buys/used 3/4 of the grain grown in Ireland
View of Dublin from the Gravity Bar
Couldn't believe that our family name was the one used for an example
Should have bought it!
Christchurch
View of Dublin down the River Liffey
Every street name was in English and Gaelic
Tribute to the Famine
All in all the trip was simply amazing and Dublin is one of my new favorite city. The atmosphere was just so relaxing and things never seemed to be in a rush! Hope you enjoy the pictures and until next time (which might be Windsor Castle) take care everyone!Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Long Weeks
'Ello again everyone! Not too much has happened since Scotland, mainly I've been working on doing a mass mailout to 5,000 UK postal addresses for work. We are including a flyer for our St. Patrick's Day event (which I designed and created), an invitation to a race day event in two months (which I didn't create), and a sheet talking about the company and what we do. Needless to say this means everyone has been in the conference room stuffing envelopes, putting on stamps (luckily they are self adhesive), and folding thousands of pages of paper. One little glitch though, printer broke and is being repaired as I type this. Brand new industrial sized copier/scanner/printer only two months old or something and the motor already broke. Freak accident claims the technician but who knows.
The main reason I'm putting up this post is to give everyone a heads up that I'll be in Dublin this weekend. I have to pack, print out my ryanair boarding pass, and charge my camera. For those of you who don't know Ryanair is by far the cheapest airline in Europe and the reason it's so cheap is because they just fly something that will get you there and don't spare much for comfort or pampering. So check back in for the post on Dublin which will be coming up probably on Sunday! Cheers!
The main reason I'm putting up this post is to give everyone a heads up that I'll be in Dublin this weekend. I have to pack, print out my ryanair boarding pass, and charge my camera. For those of you who don't know Ryanair is by far the cheapest airline in Europe and the reason it's so cheap is because they just fly something that will get you there and don't spare much for comfort or pampering. So check back in for the post on Dublin which will be coming up probably on Sunday! Cheers!
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Lochs, Pheasants, Scots, and Hamish
So I guess this will be the first official post that relates to an actual Euro trip!! This past weekend I went to Scotland for Friday-Sunday, so get your cup of coffee, tea, or beer and get ready to read!
The trip started off by meeting up at King's Cross Station at 9:30 am on Friday where we all loaded the train for our roughly 6 hour train ride to Edinburgh, our first Scottish city on the trip. There was a mix of seats facing forwards and backwards, since the train heads both directions. Every now and then there was also a table with seats on both sides, so of course I grabbed a table with the 3 other people in my building that were on the trip. Added bonus my seat was facing the opposite way the train was headed, very odd feeling! Anyways the trip up England and into Edinburgh was filled with gorgeous country side and small, quaint towns seated right next to the ocean! There are plenty of pictures on my Facebook (I took over 400 for the weekend) if you want to look at them.
We arrived in Edinburgh at about 4:00pm and after checking into our hostel we set our stuff down then darted up to Edinburgh castle. Sadly though we arrived 2 mins late to catch the last tour of the castle! So instead we took pictures outside then went into this place called the 'Woolen Mill" which was a HUGE shop that made Tartans (kilts) and had any and every typical Scottish thing you could think of. I was fully planning on buying an authentic kilt uuunnntttilllll I looked at the price tag. About 40 pounds to make a kilt that was custom to you, which is about $60. While it would have been awesome to have an authentic kilt made in Scotland... $60 is a bit too steep! Anyways after touring that shop we went around to the rest of the city real quick before we had dinner. We ate at a local pub where I order smoked salmon on top of mash potatoes with a prawn lemon sauce...... Delicious! I was going to order Haggis which is a Scotland traditional dish but I wanted to wait until we were in the highlands to get it from a small town that made it really well! After dinner we had to meet back at the hostel at 7pm to go on a haunted tour of Edinburgh. The tour took us around what is called the "Royal Mile" which was the main strip back in the middle ages. We basically went around St. Giles Cathedral and the building of the Scottish Parliament building. after that we went down into the part of the city that they walled up and put everyone that had the bubonic plague in to quarantine the city. These vaults supposedly were haunted and there have been a number of encounters on the tours. While nothing happened on our tour it was kinda spooky and a sad story about how people were basically walled up and left to die. After the tour we were on our own, so me and the other people I was with went to a couple of the pubs where there were tons of Welsh people because of the Scotland vs Wales rugby game the next day.
The next morning we had to be up and on the coach bus by 8:45 am where we had our own tour guide for the weekend. He is a blue badge tour guide, which basically means he knows anything and everything about Scotland. He was really fun and very interesting. Our final destination on Saturday was to end up in a town called Oban. But throughout the day we stopped at sights such as Loch Awe, Loch Airy, Loch Lomond, Inverary, Kilchurn Castle, and Crianlarich. These were all up in the Highlands of Scotland and were simply breath taking sights!!! Oban was a nice fishing village that had plenty to offer. It has a natural harbor protected by a group of small islands right at the mouth of the port. It was also a very hilly area where at the top of the highest hill that overlooked the entire city they built a short, wide tower that was built solely to help fight unemployment a long time ago. We got to the top right at sunset so we got to look out at the city right at dusk, a gorgeous sight! After this we went back to the hostel that we checked into previously to take a nap since it had been a very, very long day. Once we woke up we went to go get dinner then to some pubs. But that night was an early night cause we had been in a coach for about 9 hours with intermittent stops and had to be up at 8:45 am again.
Sunday we did a little bit of back tracking but the main sight of Sunday was Stirling Castle in Callendar. We got a tour of the castle from our awesome tour guide Gavin Hunter who did by the way wear an authentic kilt allllllll weekend. We also saw Perth and Doone Castle (where Monty Python was filmed and at the entrance they have a pair of coconuts you can click together). But second best to the Castle was stopping and seeing Hamish. I've added a picture to show who Hamish is, but he was definitely the highlight of the weekend! After the Castle and Hamish we headed back to Edinburgh train station to catch our train back to London. A fun little event that happened on our ride back home, about 4 stops away from our final station there was engineering work and signal failures making it so that only 1 rail line was open. So this meant we were delayed an hour and a half and ended up arriving at the station two and a half hours late. That wasn't really the best way to end the weekend but we might be getting compensated the price of the return ticket soooo that is a bonus!!
Dochart Falls
Inverary Castle
Kilchurn Castle on Loch Awe
Oban
HAMISH!!!
Stirling Castle 1
Us and Gavin Hunter
Wallace Monument in the backgroundSo that was my past weekend! Hope you guys enjoyed reading about it and until next post Cheers!
The trip started off by meeting up at King's Cross Station at 9:30 am on Friday where we all loaded the train for our roughly 6 hour train ride to Edinburgh, our first Scottish city on the trip. There was a mix of seats facing forwards and backwards, since the train heads both directions. Every now and then there was also a table with seats on both sides, so of course I grabbed a table with the 3 other people in my building that were on the trip. Added bonus my seat was facing the opposite way the train was headed, very odd feeling! Anyways the trip up England and into Edinburgh was filled with gorgeous country side and small, quaint towns seated right next to the ocean! There are plenty of pictures on my Facebook (I took over 400 for the weekend) if you want to look at them.
We arrived in Edinburgh at about 4:00pm and after checking into our hostel we set our stuff down then darted up to Edinburgh castle. Sadly though we arrived 2 mins late to catch the last tour of the castle! So instead we took pictures outside then went into this place called the 'Woolen Mill" which was a HUGE shop that made Tartans (kilts) and had any and every typical Scottish thing you could think of. I was fully planning on buying an authentic kilt uuunnntttilllll I looked at the price tag. About 40 pounds to make a kilt that was custom to you, which is about $60. While it would have been awesome to have an authentic kilt made in Scotland... $60 is a bit too steep! Anyways after touring that shop we went around to the rest of the city real quick before we had dinner. We ate at a local pub where I order smoked salmon on top of mash potatoes with a prawn lemon sauce...... Delicious! I was going to order Haggis which is a Scotland traditional dish but I wanted to wait until we were in the highlands to get it from a small town that made it really well! After dinner we had to meet back at the hostel at 7pm to go on a haunted tour of Edinburgh. The tour took us around what is called the "Royal Mile" which was the main strip back in the middle ages. We basically went around St. Giles Cathedral and the building of the Scottish Parliament building. after that we went down into the part of the city that they walled up and put everyone that had the bubonic plague in to quarantine the city. These vaults supposedly were haunted and there have been a number of encounters on the tours. While nothing happened on our tour it was kinda spooky and a sad story about how people were basically walled up and left to die. After the tour we were on our own, so me and the other people I was with went to a couple of the pubs where there were tons of Welsh people because of the Scotland vs Wales rugby game the next day.
The next morning we had to be up and on the coach bus by 8:45 am where we had our own tour guide for the weekend. He is a blue badge tour guide, which basically means he knows anything and everything about Scotland. He was really fun and very interesting. Our final destination on Saturday was to end up in a town called Oban. But throughout the day we stopped at sights such as Loch Awe, Loch Airy, Loch Lomond, Inverary, Kilchurn Castle, and Crianlarich. These were all up in the Highlands of Scotland and were simply breath taking sights!!! Oban was a nice fishing village that had plenty to offer. It has a natural harbor protected by a group of small islands right at the mouth of the port. It was also a very hilly area where at the top of the highest hill that overlooked the entire city they built a short, wide tower that was built solely to help fight unemployment a long time ago. We got to the top right at sunset so we got to look out at the city right at dusk, a gorgeous sight! After this we went back to the hostel that we checked into previously to take a nap since it had been a very, very long day. Once we woke up we went to go get dinner then to some pubs. But that night was an early night cause we had been in a coach for about 9 hours with intermittent stops and had to be up at 8:45 am again.
Sunday we did a little bit of back tracking but the main sight of Sunday was Stirling Castle in Callendar. We got a tour of the castle from our awesome tour guide Gavin Hunter who did by the way wear an authentic kilt allllllll weekend. We also saw Perth and Doone Castle (where Monty Python was filmed and at the entrance they have a pair of coconuts you can click together). But second best to the Castle was stopping and seeing Hamish. I've added a picture to show who Hamish is, but he was definitely the highlight of the weekend! After the Castle and Hamish we headed back to Edinburgh train station to catch our train back to London. A fun little event that happened on our ride back home, about 4 stops away from our final station there was engineering work and signal failures making it so that only 1 rail line was open. So this meant we were delayed an hour and a half and ended up arriving at the station two and a half hours late. That wasn't really the best way to end the weekend but we might be getting compensated the price of the return ticket soooo that is a bonus!!
Dochart Falls
Inverary Castle
Kilchurn Castle on Loch Awe
Oban
HAMISH!!!
Stirling Castle
Us and Gavin Hunter
Wallace Monument in the backgroundYou'll Never Walk Alone....
So we all met up near the stadium and started walking towards the stadium thinking it would be nearly impossible to find 6 tickets to this game. To our delightful surprise though there were guys all up and down the street asking if people needed tickets. After talking to a couple of them we found someone who would sell us tickets a reasonable price not too far above face value, especially for this game! 2 of the guys decided the price was too steep for them so they decided not to buy but the other 4 of us bought the tickets and went into the stadium and found our seats! Even though we were on the lower level and underneath the overhang so our view was slightly impeded but the game was incredible!!!! It was unreal that I was so close to many of the superstars that I've watched on countless weekends on TV. Also we sat in the Chelsea Fan section, which stood and sang the ENTIRE game!! Secretly I was rooting for Liverpool because Chelsea was closer in the league standings to the team I support (Manchester United who is 1st).
The first half ended 0-0 after some close chances by both teams. Luckily for us the action switched ends the 2nd half and was played towards us (our seats were behind the net too, forgot to mention that earlier). Early on in the 2nd half Liverpool scored the opening goal and the away section went absolutely wild! It was quite a sight to see! Sadly though there were no more goals to be had and the game ended 1-0, which for me was good cause it meant Manchester United stayed in first place.
After the game I went back took a nap and then woke up ate some food, then went to a pub to get ready for the Superbowl. We luckily rented out a pub to watch the Superbowl at since it started at 11:30 London time. Most pubs close at 11:00 but we came to an agreement with the owner to stay open and show the game! Only down side is we got British commercials not the US ones =(. I still have yet to see any of the Superbowl commercials, but we did get to see the halftime show which personally I didn't think it was very good. After the halftime show I went back to my flat to watch the rest of the game. I was getting tired and didn't want to stay in the packed pub when we had it on our TV at our flat, where one of my flatemates was watching it and he's a HUGE Packers fan. I ended up staying up for the whole game and watched it til the end even though I had work the next day! It ended around nearly 3am London time so needless to say I didn't get too much sleep! So that was basically all I did that weekend, look at the next post for the official kick off to my Euro Trip!! Cheers!
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