Four Countries in one day...not too shabby

Our last day before heading back to the palace in Scotland consisted of traveling in 4 different countries! We took a ferry from Dublin to Wales, drove through Wales to England, then through England to Scotland! We didn't get much time off the bus which wasn't the best for picture taking, but the places we stopped in Wales were really great. Unlike the fast-pace city life of Ireland we saw, Wales was very tranquil and beautiful. I didn't really know what to expect but it ended up being a great place to see. Some of the fun things we learned about Wales was that it has the longest city name in all the UK, and I am pretty sure the world! There is also a castle ruin that they believe to be Camelot. There were mountain ranges and cute towns, and really really yummy ice cream :)

                            This Castle in Wales was massive...couldn't even get half of it in a picture

                                      Little Kids were on the water catching crabs with bacon!

                                                                          Camelot

Brilliant Ireland

My experience in Ireland was absolutely brilliant (another term I have picked up along with cheers).  I was looking forward to Ireland the most out of the whole trip because of my family roots there and all the amazing things I have heard...and Ireland did not disappoint. 

We started out in our trip by flying to Dublin and staying there for two nights.  Our hostel was located right in the middle of the Temple Bar area. Temple bar is an area on the south bank of the River Liffy in the middle of Dublin. Temple Bar has preserved its medieval street pattern, with many narrow cobbled streets. It is promoted as "Dublin's cultural quarter" The nightlife was absolutely amazing, live music, lively pubs, street performers, and very friendly people. A venue right across the street from our hostel was holding a concert that featured an American punk band Less Than Jake, and some local Dublin bands, that a few of us decided to go to. We were sitting on the balcony of our hostel when all the bands started coming out and went down and got some pictures with them, which was pretty awesome for us! Our whole group had fun exploring Dublin's Temple Bar, and it was fun getting to stay in the middle of all the action.
  

When we weren't enjoying the festivities of Temple Bar, we toured around the Dublin and saw things like St.Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin Castle, the public parks and monuments,and even toured the Guinness brewery. One of our tour guides told us that in Dublin there are over 650 churches but over 900 pubs in the town! also followed up by the fact that the breweries often donate money to certain churches, so the Irish have to drink to keep the faith alive! haha :)

 I learned a lot at the Guinness tour, it was an awesome place to see. Below is the 9,000 year lease Aurthur Guinness signed when we purchased the brewery, shows that he was very confident entrepreneur, and I think its safe to say it all worked out in his favor.  The tour takes you through 7 different levels that shows you things like: the different ingredients, how the beer is made, how to pour the perfect pint, and even provides you with a complimentary pint of Guinness when finishing the tour at their 360 Gravity Bar that overlooks Dublin.

 After our few night stay in Dublin we took a bus tour through the rural places on our way to Galway. We had wonderful weather finally! I was starting to get jealous of everyone back home talking about how warm it was! My favorite stop was the Cliffs of Moher, it was absolutely breathtaking. I could have stayed there all day in awe of these beautiful creations.

Our Last Stop in Ireland before we traveled to Wales was Galway, which was also an awesome city. There was the annual Cuban festival going on, which seemed a little unfitting in Ireland, but there was a lot to see. There were salsa dancers in the street and live music around every corner. During the one day we got to spend there was a fresh farmers market and various vendors on the streets. It is also known for the creation of the Claddagh ring, and is actually where my Dad got mine from! I wish we would have had more time to spend in Galway, but it just gives me an excuse to come again :)

Ireland was such a great place to visit, and I can't wait to go back someday and see and experience even more that Ireland has to offer :)

The Highlands: land of faries,giants, and kilts.

Our three day tour of the Highlands has been the best part of this trip, by far. The tour took us around the east side of the Highlands visiting various war memorials, castles, etc. The tour took us the the Isle of Skye which is the northernmost island of Scotland. We spent the night at the town right on the other side of the bridge that connects Skye to the mainland. We woke up early enough to see the sun coming out over the water and mountains and it was absolutely beautiful. The next day we were taken around Skye and stopping at the places unique to the little island. We spent one more night at the same hostel and took the tour down the west side of the Highlands and back to Edinburgh. It was a lot of time on a bus, but our tour guide Niel was hilarious. He had so many stories about the history and told many old folktales, being from the Highlands he was very passionate about his homeland. I really enjoyed listening to all the things he knew.

                                                 

There is so much to tell so I will tell you some of my favorite moments and stories of the trip.

                                                                    our tour guide

Lochness was incredibly beautiful, and incredibly cold. I didn't end up going for a full swim because it was freezing and rainy outside but I did take off my shoes and sock and went almost knee deep. The water was very very cold, and because of the volume of water in Lochness the temperature barely fluctuates temperature. (This is one of Niel's arguments to why the Lochness Monster could possible exist) Speaking of Nessy, sad to report we didn't see anything.

Sligachan River in Scottish tales is named after a beautiful Scottish warrior who battled a Irish Warrior
and when he couldn't beat her ended up falling in love with her. The river is named after her and the mountains that surround the river named after her Irish Warrior. It is said that if you stick your head in the river for 7 seconds or 3 consecutive times you will be eternally beautiful. I went with the 7 seconds.

We also climbed ANOTHER mountain Old Man of Storr.  We got to hike through woods and then a steep climb up to the ginormous rocks at the top. Absolutely amazing scenery at the top made it all worth it.

Another place in Skye was the fairies palace. The Scottish believe that the land and palace is run by faries, and that if you sing, whistle or yell in the place the fairies will come take you away. It was a very mystical place. Also there was another tale abut the spiral of rocks that are right outside the palace. If you walk through the spiral and think about the traits of your personality you don't like and when you get to the center and walk back out thinking about the personality traits you do like about yourself the fairies will take the bad and let you take the good traits with you.

One of the last highlights of the trip was visiting the Wallace Monument, for all you braveheart fans it was very cool. They claim to have his actual sword and the leather on the handle is made from the skin of a British General Wallace killed. All the stairs were spiral and looks over the whole town. Definitely worth going to, and to make my Dad jealous haha.

 The Highlands were such an amazing thing to experience I learned so much more about the culture and history of the country and had a blast!

 We are off to Ireland tomorrow for 5 days: Dublin, Galway, Cork, and then to Wales.