The Highlands

We got back home on Sunday night from our tour in the highlands. We took a 3 day bus tour which took us up to Isle of Skye where we stayed for two nights in Kyleakin. We spent our days on a cramped bus and drove all day long from place to place. Our tour guide told us stories and fairy tales about each place we visited.  It was absolutely gorgeous despite the rain and wind.

Eilean Donan Castle

Loch Ness

The view from our hostel

View from partway up Old Man of Storr

Scenery of the highlands

It was insanely windy

Waterfall into the Atlantic

On our way up to Old Man of Storr

 This is Hamish. He's 18 years old making him the oldest living hairy coo. He's the only coo to survive the law that says they have to be killed at 3 years old due to mad cow.

Hamish the oldest hairy coo.

We're leaving bright and early tomorrow for Ireland!

Glasgow & Dalkeith Palace

We're back from Glasgow and it was fantastic! After a bit of confusion with the train we finally made it there. The city is full of gorgeous old buildings like the University of Glasgow & Glasgow Cathedral. It's also a very big and chaotic city. It was on and off rain and sun both days, but that's Scotland for you. One of my favorite things about the UK is the flowers they have because of the mild climate!

University of Glasgow

University of Glasgow

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Glasgow Cathedral

Glasgow Cathedral

Glasgow Cathedral Cemetery

Fuschia

We stayed in a great little hotel with 4 to a room and our own bathroom. It was a nice break from staying at the palace where the bathrooms are always out of order! And now for a few photos of Dalkeith Palace. It's owned by the UW system and constantly has students coming and going. It's older than the United States and a bit cold, but worth the stay. Once you figure everything out you just have to do a few things. First decide where you want to go in the palace, then decide which of the six ways you want to take to get there, and then walk through multiple doors and staircases to get there. It doesn't help that all the doors are huge and some are heavy.

Dalkeith Palace

Sometimes you have to go through two doors.

Sometimes you have to go up and down concrete spiral staircases.

Sometimes you get to go up and down classy tartan stairs.

Our favorite resident peacock, Charlie.

He can be seen strutting around outside windows. He's currently looking in the window now as we all watch Harry Potter.

Tomorrow morning we head out for a weekend trip of the highlands!

Arthur's Seat, Black Pudding, & Haggis

It’s day three of our Scotland trip and we’re all settled in to life at the Dalkeith Palace. I think I’ve got the hang of it now. There are doorways and staircases and shortcuts everywhere. I’ll be sure to get some pictures soon.

Yesterday, some of us went to brunch at the Blacksmith's Forge in Dalkeith. We ordered traditional Scottish breakfasts which usually include baked beans, eggs, sausage, hash browns and black pudding. If you're wondering what black pudding is, so was I. It's a sausage made with blood and filler. It's hard to think about it when you're eating it. We then made our first trip into Edinburgh to do some exploring, and then we climbed Arthur’s Seat. It’s over 800 feet high and quite rocky, but to make things worse it was really windy. Trying to climb a steep rocky hill with 40-50 mph winds pushing you over is NOT easy.

The Streets of Edinburgh

Edinburgh is a layered city

On our way up Arthur's Seat

The top of Arthur's Seat

The hike up took about an hour. Luckily the climb down was faster. We headed over to Sheep's Heid Inn for dinner. It's the oldest pub in the UK. Some of the girls had haggis after we tried some on the day we arrived. Again, a strange food to us. It looks a lot like ground beef, but is actually sheep heart, liver, and lungs mixed with some onions, oatmeal, and various spices. All cooked in a stomach lining. Sounds delicious? It's actually pretty good. We had to walk back to town to catch the bus so we took our time and enjoyed the view through Hollyrood park.

Sheep's Heid (Head) Inn

The lovely area of grass we ran through in Hollyrood Park below Arthur's Seat

Today was a very low key day. We spent the morning in class talking about photojournalism and then some of us went back to Edinburgh for lunch. The wind hasn't died down at all and it's not supposed to for a few days. It's terrible to walk in but we'll manage! Tomorrow morning we leave for our trip to Glasgow and will be back on Thursday. That's all until I return!

Dr. Scheels and Tire Bridge

Our last days in London are over but they were so much fun. The room we stayed in was...interesting. It was a decent size but with luggage everywhere felt a bit small. We were across the hall from the woman's bathroom/shower room, which we discovered floods when you shower so we had a nice puddle outside of our door. We had a strange drip in the corner of our room and it made the room stink. We also realized there was no outlets (which we actually found eventually behind Trent's backpack). We spent our trip sitting in the lounge to charge things.

Thursday started off with a walking tour. We went Hyde Park, Buckingham for the changing of the guards, Westminster Abbey, and Big Ben. It was a lot of walking but a great way to see the city and learn a few things. The last day we had in London was spent seeing the Tate Modern, V&A art museum, seeing the Tower Bridge and Tower of London, and doing some night photography. It was nice to just wander the streets and discover. We went down to the London Eye to get a good view of parliament at night. The city is such an amazing place at night and we couldn’t miss capturing it! Sadly when I got home, my feet were in a bit of a mess.

This morning we woke up early. Too early. We had a 7AM train to Edinburgh to catch! After re-packing everything we hauled our luggage through the tube station for one last time and on to the train station. After a four hour ride we were finally there and could meet up with the rest of our class. Dalkeith House is huge! It’s full of stairs and doorways and is extremely confusing. There’s no doubt we’ll get lost in here a few times.

Now for some pictures :)

Mind The Gap

After no sleep and an eight hour overnight plane ride we made it to London. We did have a few mishaps before we left. Nora's backpack started falling apart, Trent's luggage frame is broken so he can't wheel it behind him, and my computer charger is broken. Our flight wasn't a lot better; it came with crying babies...and people who grab the back of your seat while you sleep to help themselves stand up which jerks you awake. Also it was full of turbulence and now we all still feel like we're bobbing around. We're all so tired and out of it but didn't want to waste our day so we wandered around the city. We went through Hyde Park and took lots of pictures and finally found our way back in the rain after our underground line was closed due to some malfunction that only happens when we need it.

Right about now I feel like sleeping for the next week, but we're still going to try to find something to do tonight. If we can find something to do nearby that is. I don't even want to get up to go to my room and climb in bed. Maybe I will though. I'm surrounded by tons of people all speaking in different languages to each other and they all sound like they're yelling! Thinking about nothing but sleep!

The Time Has Come

After months of counting down the days it’s finally here! We leave for Europe in just a few hours. First off to London for a few days, and then we’ll be meeting up with our class in Edinburgh. Then we’ll travel around Scotland and Ireland. After our three weeks with our class we’ll be headed off to Amsterdam for a few days before returning home.

Everyday should be a new adventure and I can’t wait!