New School Year

It has been ages since I have updated this thing! I am slowly getting back into the swing of things in Birmingham and have just moved into a house off of Broad Street after enjoying five absolutely amazing sunny weeks in Canada (the majority being at Camp! woo hoo!). I'm really looking forward to another school year here and although I am currently back on the supply list, I am hoping that I'll soon land another LTO to get me through the rest of the school year. The year tends to fly by quickly so I am hoping that I will be able to see just as many amazing places as I did last year!

My new room in the house!

Our amazing HUGE kitchen!

Kayaking on Superior during summer break :)

The super neat looking Scottish Pound!

Even the taxis have tartans!

Greyfriar's Kirkyard.....Scariest Places on Earth

You can watch the episode of Scariest Places on Earth about Greyfriar's Kirkyard and the poltergeist haunting, it's a little bit cheesy but it does explain a lot about the Covenanter's prison from the 1600s.

Greyfriar's Kirkyard & Haggis

On our second day in Edinburgh we decided to visit Greyfriar's Kirkyard. This graveyard is really old and famous for two very different reasons. The first reason being that it was used as an open air prison in 1679 for over 1000 supporters of the National Covenant. The National Covenanters supported a document by the same name produced to help protect Scottish Churches from English influence.

The right hand side of this photo shows the old prison rooms, they were open to the elements and had simple iron gate in the doorway and no roof . They were later bought up by the Victorians and converted to burial sites. 

The second reason this graveyard is so popular is due to a Skye terrier named Bobby. The story goes that Bobby's owner Auld Jock died when Bobby was two. Bobby spent the next 14 years guarding his master's grave until his death. After his death he was buried just outside the church grounds (because he was an animal he wasn't allowed to be buried inside the walls of the Kirkyard).

Monuments to Greyfriar's Bobby

This was one of the coolest (and creepiest) graveyards I've ever been in. In one area of the yard the tombstones make up the back wall of homes while in another area all of the graves are covered by mortsafes (a contraption covering the area that stops the buried bodies from being disturbed....the biggest problem was the bodies being dug up and dissected by medical students) There are tons of stories involving the yard, it's use throughout history and famous hauntings.

Tombstones with homes built of the back

After finishing up in Greyfriar's Kirkyard we headed out to the National Gallery to view some amazing paintings and to a cute little pub for some lunch where I got to have Haggis for the first time. I actually loved it! It was a fancier version mind you, mostly ground lamb and less gut!

Edinburgh (still day one)

 The Castle on the way back down the hill

In a graveyard with the castle on the hill in the background...they don't fool around when it comes to headstones I am standing next to one of the smallest ones that we saw there!!

 Headstone of a man of the law

The Scott Monument (and in the foreground the road ripped up...they are putting in a tram system)

Edinburgh

After we were finished with Ireland we hopped a plane over to Edinburgh to see what Scotland had in store. Edinburgh is definitely one of the coolest looking cities I have ever been in! Everything is so old, dark, and slightly creepy looking. We decided to check out Edinburgh castle the first day we were in town. It was really cool but took a bit of a hike (uphill) to get to it. We did the full tour and some of our own wandering through the castle. It is still used as a military base and was never really meant to hold royalty but what it lacks in ornateness it definitely makes up for in brute strength, there are weapons or links to the military and wartime throughout the entire castle. The military museum is located here as well as various other small buildings dedicated to certain battalions (like the Dragoon Guards) and the half moon battery with the massive guns was definitely impressive.

half moon battery

Mons Meg made in 1449 as a gift to James II of Scotland, shoots cannon balls that weigh approximately 400 lbs.

The graveyard at the castle, not for soldiers but for their dogs....how sweet!

After we were finished up at the castle we wandered through a tartan manufacturer and went on the Scotch Whiskey experience both on the Royal Mile. The Scotch Whiskey Experience was so fun! I had absolutely no idea what I was getting myself into. The tour involves information in the production of Scotch followed by a break down of the different types of Scotch from different regions and a smell test to determine what kind of Scotch suits your taste. After you are handed your Scotch in a rather fancy little glass you are led through to the world's largest collection of Scotch Whiskey. Literally thousands of bottles are in these cases.

Some things I learned during this experience:

1. Do not shoot back your Scotch like you are in high school, you are meant to hold it on your tongue to get the flavour, not trying to get drunk.

2. Adding water doesn't ruin your Scotch....but you are only supposed to add a few drops to open it up...not half a glass.

3. Swirling the Scotch around in the glass shows you the alcohol content (you can somehow tell by how slowly it drips down the side of the glass).....it also makes you look fancy (especially when you give it a little sniff afterwards).

Donegal and back to Dublin

We drove up to where Robyn's family is originally from. We stayed at a cute little hostel outside of Donegal town with sheep across the road! It was a beautiful drive up and there were such cute little towns all along the way with plenty of countryside to take pictures of.
We had breakfast in town and visited Donegal Castle before driving back to Dublin which was our most adventurous part of the trip. At one point we somehow ended up driving through Northern Ireland and after that we discovered some engine trouble. We pulled up to the car rental place in Dublin (lights flashing, barely able to hit the speed limit) but we managed to get the car back in one piece which is more then most can say about their experience driving on the wrong side of the road!

 The River Eske running through Donegal town

Donegal Castle

The recently renovated roof (done in legitimate medieval fashion - no nails used - all wood and pegs!)

Fire place in the Great Hall

The Cliffs of Moher

Well we decided it would be a fantastic idea to rent a car in Ireland, although we managed to bring it back in one piece (barely) it wasn't quite as terrifying as I thought it was going to be. We drove across the country to the Cliffs of Moher (about 3 hours of driving from Dublin). The cliffs were absolutely amazing! I've never seen or been so close to the edge of something that high from the water. The cliffs were formed on an ancient river bed. and you can see all the different layers on the sides as you move around. We decided to hike from the visitor center to Hag's Head...to do this you have to pass by a fence with a warning to move further along the trail at your own risk. I have to say it is a little scary at first knowing that you are about 15 inches from a huge drop (one of the highest points of the cliffs is 700 feet to the ocean!!!) but after wandering along the edge for a while you kind of get used to it. We did not realize when we started the hike how long it would take us on this terrifying trail. To Hag's Head (where an old lookout tower is located) and back to the visitor's center  takes around 3 hours and is roughly a ten kilometer hike. Distance can be deceiving when there are no trees and you can see so far!

 Amazing views!

 Hag's Head (supposedly resembles a woman's head looking out to sea)

Finally made it to Hag's Head

Looking back towards the visitor's center - with the Sea Arch

Dublin

We were lucky enough to have a week off in June that we managed to jam pack with travelling. We headed to Dublin first (after taking a four hour train followed by a four hour ferry ride) to spend a few days exploring the city. We stayed right downtown on Bachelor's walk and had a great time. I basically lived on Guinness for the entire time we were there (and it was amazing).
The first night we didn't do a whole lot of wandering around since we arrived in the city a bit late and it was pouring rain. We did wander into the famous (indie) Temple Bar area for dinner and did some souvenir shopping.
The next morning we woke up bright and early to head to the Guinness brewery. It was really neat, you wander through five floors of Guinness history through how it's made, advertising, merchandise through the years all the way up to the sky bar with 360 degree views of the city and a "free" pint (which turned out to be our breakfast that day)

After our beer adventure I had a little bit of a family reunion with the Swedish side! Recently we have managed to get in touch with some relatives and we found out that one (Pernilla) happened to be living in Dublin with her husband and a couple of super cute kids, we were invited to come meet for coffee and had a really nice time!

We popped around town for the rest of the afternoon checking out the sights including St.Stephen's Green, some shopping areas, and the River Liffy. Dublin is a really relaxed town and we were fairly happy to wander around and enjoy ourselves (it was slightly difficult to get around since we happened to be in town on the same weekend as the Formula 1 street races)

Temple Bar

The Stag's Head (a really cool little pub that we spent most of Sunday night in)

 

Stratford-upon-Avon Round Two

Notre Dame

After a super amazing lunch we walked down to Notre Dame. Notre Dame was absolutely amazing and happens to be celebrating it's 850th anniversary this year! After exploring the inside of this amazing building we decided to hike up the 400 and some odd steps to the top of the towers up where the gargoyles are and through the bell towers. The views are amazing and it is such a neat way to see the city. 

 The Rose Window

 The Grand Chandelier

The Main Alter

13 tonne massive bell only rung on special occasions was hoisted up the tower using ropes on July 14th 1682

The Louvre

The second day in the city of love was packed with even more sight seeing! We got up bright and early to head into the Louvre (and since we happened to be there on the first Sunday of the month it was FREE). The Louvre is hands down the most amazing gallery I have ever set foot in. The entrance through the pyramids is impressive, but the real excitement happens once you get inside. There are miles and miles of corridors just covered in uber famous pieces of art including Roman statues, Egyptian pieces, all kinds of paintings from all over the world and Napoleonic apartments, I could have spent my entire trip in this place.

At the entrance (before our 45 minute wait in line....we got lucky!)

All of the girls :)

The Winged Victory of Samothrace, Hellenistic period 2nd Century BC, depicts the Goddess Nike.

Mona Lisa - La Jaconde - Leonardo Da Vinci - 1506

The Wedding at Cana - 1563

Liberty Leading the People, 1830- Eugene Delacroix

Venus de Milo, 100 BC... depicts Aphrodite

Psyche revived by Cupid's Kiss - 1787 - Antonio Canova

The Captives - Michelangelo, 1513

The Marly Horses - originally made for the Chateau de Marly in 1739

Tomb of Philippe Pot (1400)

Johannes Vermeer - The Lacemaker 1670..... my favourite piece in the Louvre and probably one of the smallest but the detail was absolutely amazing.




Napoleonic Apartments