UK-Finale! Wrapping It All Up in Scotland.

So I realize I've been way too slow about getting all of our UK stuff up here so I'm hitting it hard and wrapping the trip up in 1 final post, Scotland.  I could do them all in a bunch of posts but it'll be whirlwind here just like it was in real life.  And the pictures are in reverse order so I'll start with the end....

 

Edinburgh.  We had a great time there! Sadly it rained almost the whole time we were there so we didn't get to hike Aurthur's Seat or wander around as much as we normally would. Happily we did get to see the castle without any rain-yippee! We took the guided tour to learn a few new facts about the place-it was short but had some good info.  It also had a nice view of parts of the city.

 



 

Backside of the castle.

 





Scenic overlook-it was a little chilly.

 

 

No, sadly he didn't really play. But he was the only "man" wearing a kilt with bagpipes that we saw the whole trip.

 



 While in Edinburgh we took a day trip out to St. Andrews (home of the famous golf course, and also, apparently, where Prince William met Kate for lunch at times...or so the cafes said.) and also to Rosslyn chapel. Sadly there are no pics allowed at Rosslyn chapel but let me tell you, if you ever get a chance to go there, DO IT!! It is such a lovely little chapel and has such a great history that has nothing to do with the Da Vinci code! It is a little pricey to get into but again, worth it.
St. Andrews was a nice little town but it is very famous for the golf course and the ruins.  The cathedral that used to be there was very important in medieval Christan Scotland. And it was HUGE. Even just walking around the ruins you could tell it was a beast.  And it had a giant grave yard that was basically built on top of.  Now that the cathedral is in ruins, you can see some of the ancient gravestones. My mom would've loved it. 

On top of a tower with the ruined castle behind. It was windy and cold as Matt is showing us.

 

Part of the ruined cathedral.

 

Another part of the ruined cathedral.

 

I've been playing with photoshop. This is a "poster affect"-what do you think?

 

 

On our way to Edinburgh from the Isle of Skye we stopped in Stirling to check out the castle. It was amazing.  So beautiful.  We took their free guided tour as well and learned some good stuff.  Sadly we were too late to make it to the William Wallace Memorial that is very close, you can see it, but we did get some photos (ish).  The castle was lovely and very photogenic ;)

 

Lovely flowers growing out of the rock at the castle. Not too shabby with the mountains in the background huh?

 

There is the William Wallace Monument! It's so tiny!

 

Even Matt played along this time!

 

Smoochy smoochy. Who doesn't want some lovin' every now and then?

 

So our first stop in Scotland was the Isle of Skye.  We rented a car in the lakes district of England and drove all the way up, via Glasgow.  We decided to take the bridge across and not the ferry for a few reasons. 1. I get crazy motion sick so we weren't sure how well I would handle the drive, let a lone a boat ride, which is turning out to be the worse of the 2 for me. 2. The ferry didn't run all the time and it was like a 30 min ride. 3. Most importantly, it was crazy expensive. So the bridge for us, which was fine. Because if we hadn't taken the bridge we wouldn't have gone by this little beauty (only on the outside, inside it's filled with creepy dolls we're told). This is the most photographed castle in Scotland. It is the Eilean Donan castle. 

 

 It was real pretty outside. Sadly we couldn't go in as there was fire right before we got there.

 

Old stone-gotta love it!

 

A beautiful (and somewhat late) sunset on the way back to our B&B. There was a cute little chapel right on a little pond which I felt was so quaint.

 

We also got to do a little hiking in the hills.  Of course, more sheep and craggy hills. It was amazing.

 

We later found out that the movie "Prometheus" was filmed here. No surprises right?

 

We had a great time in Scotland and would happily go back at some point! Especially since we didn't get to see much of Edinburgh due to the rain.  The people were so friendly and helpful as well! So we're cracking right along seeing a lot of the UK! We just need to hit Ireland and Whales and we've seen it all, right? Really next visit to the UK is to see some other friends who have left us here in Cyprus-and this time we will get to see some horses!

Lakes District Part 2-GO APE!

So apparently where we went in the lakes was quite close to some of the best forest in England, where they have this thing called "Go Ape" which is a ropes course. Being the heights weenie that I am, I opted out of participating but Matt and Emily were totally game. It was the one thing Em really wanted to do. And Matt likes LOVES climbing things.  It was lots of fun to go around with them and take photos of them being monkies!  

 

 

All ready to go!

 

Shuffle on over buddy!

 

"What are you doing?? Stop being a weenie!"

 

Such a strong guy ;)

 

Zips down and lands on his feet-skills!

 

 

Weeeee-here she comes!!

 

Show off....

 

So much concentration! Lovin' that bottom lip!

 

All ready to go.

 

Strategy talk. Matt was the example of what to do.

 

 

Crash landing for Emily, yet again!

 

 

Way to go guys!

 

A little too much resemblance for Matt and the ape huh?

 

 

They had such a great time and I really enjoyed egging them on, and laughing at them.  If I was more brave I would've done it too but I really am terrified of heights! Maybe one day....not.

 

Eventually We'll Get Through the UK Trip...But We're Not Quite There...

So I realize it's been so very long since I last posted anything.  And a lot has happened since then too.  But this is not the time or place to get into that, we've got more England trip to get through!

So we went to the Lakes District for the weekend while visiting N & E.  None of us had ever been before but we were all so glad we went! We decided that some hiking was in order so we got up first thing in the morning and headed into the hills and walk around a lake!

 

As you can see, I was raring to go in the morning!

 

 

This tree had like a million pennies (or what look like pennies to me) hammered into it.  Cool right?

 

 

Matt is ready to go! And no, we didn't go to that peak behind him.

 

So peaceful right?



 

Such a handsome man. You know you're jealous!

There was this great bridge and it was really tough to get a shot with no one in it! 

 

What is out there??

Of course he would end up in a tree...more on that in the next post! 

 



Look it's a lake!  

We had so much fun with N&E hiking. 

 

 

Matt and I loved getting to do some hiking since we haven't gotten to do much since moving here.  Which made us super jazzed for Scotland and getting to do some more hiking especially on the Isle of Skye.  We only visited 2 lakes on the trip so we would be up for going back and seeing more. 

 

Up next,  more lakes then off to Scotland!

We're Slowly Taking Over-Brits Beware!

So as you know, last week was the fourth of July. Quite a big holiday for us Yanks.  This is the 2nd one we've spent out of the country (actually 3rd for Matt and 3rd for me off the continental US, 3 years ago I was in Hawaii).  Our dear, sweet, and gullible friends "allowed" us to fly Ol' Glory in their back garden for the afternoon which was oh so generous of them.  We sang the Star Spangled Banner and made people look at the flag when they went by. It was awesome.

Even British people are expressing how awesome our flag is! Thanks Nicky!

The family under the flag! Proud to be American on this day!

Hope everyone had a great fourth!

Oxford and Bath, Just How You Imagine Them.

So things have gotten pretty hectic around here.  I'm teach way more than what was originally wanted so my time at the yard is so much more! And it's gotten RIDICULOUSLY hot here! So when I come home all I want to do is sit and vegetate and be lazy! Especially when I go ride in the morning, then go back to teach in the afternoon (like today!).  So I apologize for the lack of updates. It's not going to get any better quite yet.  I'm off on Friday (the 13th! Spooky!) to the states for 2 weeks to do wedding prep for my sis since she's getting married in November.  So any hew, I'm trying to post more England trip photos since that was what, 2 months ago?? Ugh! How time flies!!

I don't remember if I told you last post, but we got some photo editing software, yippee!! I've been playing a little! Please let me know how you like the watermark! I do value comments and opinions, as long as they are what I want to hear ;)

So Oxford. We didn't take too many photos here.  We just wandered around and had lunch at this high tea place before heading onto Blenheim Palace (which will be it's own post!). Neil and Emily (N&E) had warned us about seeing the folks in the fancy robes and such taking exams, which we did see and sadly didn't get any pics of. Bummer. It was pretty funny to see though-you think "Oxford. Prestigious university, people wearing berets and sweater vests, learning all sorts of high brow stuff, and wearing funny robes to take exams." It really does happen folks.  We had a great time wandering around and seeing the lovely architecture.

This bridge is modeled after one in Italy. 

Beautiful cemetery in the middle of the city. Mom would be so proud of me-she loves old tombstones.

I just imagine there are lovers underneath these stones, not sure why.  

No trip to the UK is complete without a red telephone booth photo!

Although our time in Oxford was limited we did enjoy seeing the city.  We didn't get to go into any of the university buildings because of exams and such-bummer.  But it was lovely to walk around.

Now Bath was another place that was exactly how I imagined it. Honestly.  Having read almost all of Jane Austen's work, and lots of other historical fiction in which Bath is a hot spot (hahaha, get it??) I had an idea of what to expect.  Bath has been a major place for visitors since the Romans were in England because of the, you guessed it, natural hot springs that flow into the city. Which is why a Roman bath was built.  And why bajillions of people have visited through history-it was always thought that there were great restorative properties in the water.  It's been bathed in, drank, had steam rooms made, and shipped out (you can buy some at the book shop).  There is even a tea room/pub thingy next door that sells shots of it (you can try for free in the Bath itself-it's really not very tasty.) So we started out with a walk around then into the cathedral then to the baths.  After that Matt and Neil had to leave to go to a football game in Cardiff so Emily and I wandered around some more the headed home for a girly night of junk food and movies!

View of a lovely park in Bath-that you had to pay to access...seriously.

USA represented in Bath cathedral! We can't escape our homeland!

The amazing ceiling in the cathedral!

There is a GREAT audio guide included in the price of the bath-I recommend getting them and listening to all the fascinating information!

Some Roman emperors lining the upper walk way by the main bath.  They were so beautiful having weathered all the years!

The main bath (below) with the cathedral in the back ground.  I loved how close it all was but it didn't feel condensed.

We're such cuties!

What a fun looking bunch! We had so much fun all together!

A lot of structures and statues have been destroyed over the centuries so the art historians project (and sometimes recreate with the help of original drawings) what things looked like when it was actually up.  It was really cool how they tried to show what post and lintels went where with which statues and columns-I love history being recreated!

Wild hairstyles from times past! Can you imagine how this was done??

Neil thought she was "quite fit"-that British for really hot!

Together in front of the bath-this was the main one where people bathed.  You can't do that any longer. But there is a place you can around the corner. We didn't do it because it's expensive and there is a long line.  Can you just imagine all the old Roman butts that have bathed here?  Can you see the mist coming off the surface? It was really warm-it would be refreshing to go into with the chill that we had!

This was the point where we parted ways with the boys.  This is the famous "Circus"-a big oval living area. There is a spot in the middle where you can whisper and people on the other side can hear you. Emily was too shy to make noise, not this crazy American! We had good giggles!

And our final stop is Crescent Drive.  Famous people live here.  We didn't see any.  But we did see a dog running with a huge stick-it was hilarious.  We also stalked a tour group for a little while. 

We really had a great time exploring these historic cities! It's something we don't really have in the states (well not as old at least!). Next post will be about Blenheim Palace (pronounced Blen-hem, not Blen-highm-it's supposed to be German but it's not) and the pheasants we encountered.