Edinburgh

The trip is over. I really enjoyed experiencing Scotland and Ireland... but am so very happy to be back home with my loving husband. He's such a heart's companion that traveling without him loses it's luster. Also, I missed the dog. People all during our trip were tramping with their dogs and I wished I had mine with me, too! He adds so much exuberance to a hike :). All in all, it's good to be home.

We had a long day of traveling to get to our first destination. Our round trip to and from the states was through Dublin, Ireland, but our trip started in Edinburgh, Scotland... so we had a long LONG layover after a red-eye flight to Dublin before we boarded RyanAir for Edinburgh. The Dublin airport is... very nice. We survived it. And RyanAir is an experience I'd recommend to anyone traveling in Europe. On our way back from Scotland we landed a full half an hour early (??!!!???). But, I digress...

The big to do for the whole trip started after we got to Edinburgh. I was driving the rental car. Which means I was driving on the wrong side of the road (for me) and the wrong side of the car (for me)... and it was a stick with the shifter on the wrong side of the driver (for me)... and I was doing this all on 0 sleep. Eek.

For the record we had no accidents and only a handful of incidents where I could be heard to say "Oh shit! The left! Drive on the left!"... all involving only our car. I'm quite proud of myself.

We stayed at the Best Western in Dublin... one of, that is. It was a good walk to city center, but Lori and I like to walk, and there were multiple enticements to motivate us.

The view from our hotel room. The building in the background on the left is Edinburgh Castle.

Beautiful architecture

Sunset on our quest to find food

Guinness at a cute little pub

 We had delicious coffee and croissants from a shop right across from our hotel the next morning and set off to find Edinburgh Castle and other sites.

I want!

On our way to the castle we stopped into a church and church yard. Donald the caretaker showed us around and talked about the history for a while... and even told us about his pet squirrels that live out in the cemetery. I had already met one of the squirrels. It grabbed my finger asking for food!

Spring had certainly come to Scotland! Everything was in bloom. We had to walk through a large city park on our way to the castle. It was beautiful and alive with color.

Of COURSE William Wallace was standing out in front of Edinburgh Castle.

 Edinburgh is a very pretty city. I really enjoyed the vistas from the castle.

If you serve in the Scottish military, you are allowed to have your wedding at Edinburgh Castle. This groom (his face is not visible in the photo) had just returned from a tour of duty in Afganistan.

Tiny kilt!

 After visiting the castle, we wandered around a while and then went on an "underground" ghost tour. The tour was a bit of a cheesy experience, but we got a shot of whiskey and a shortbread afterwards. It was my first shot of whiskey and while it was I'm sure watered down, it was quite pleasant.

We met a couple of girls on that tour who were traveling around, too... and walked to a park at the other end of the city with them. They were quite fun.

Another view of the pretty city

Karen (left) and Angelina (right)

Thus ended our stay in Edinburgh.

Flash post: Dublin

Back in civilization again... at least as close to it as you can get in Dublin. I'll be home tomorrow afternoon and able to post photos sometime after that, although... I have to edit them... so... it may be a slow process. :)

The trip has been grand. Exhausting in parts, but quite enjoyable. Scotland is my favorite. I think the ruggedness of that country just spoke to me in a way that Ireland could not have. It's nice here in Ireland, too, though. The people are friendly and the atmosphere is lively.

More when I get home. Cheers!

Flash post from Scotland

Sorry, no pictures yet... and I only have 5 minutes left of webtime, so this will have to be really quick. I just wanted to update anyone who reads and/or cares about this blog/me on my trip. Scotland is amazing. It's green and cool and rugged and I love it. I just spent 4 days in the Orkney Islands. What a beautiful part of the world... I can't express in words, although I'm hoping to at a later date express in a novel... I can't wait to share my photos with you!

Things that have surprised me: the vegetarian friendly options at almost every location... the ease with which I've adjusted to driving a stick shift with my left and and on the left side of the road... the super weather we've had...

It's really lovely. I promise to upload photos as soon as I hit US soil. I'm in Ireland all next week, though, so it'll be a little while yet.

I miss my dog and love and miss my husband so much! But this has been a wonderful adventure so far, and I'm glad that it will continue for a while longer.

If you post a comment, I won't be able to moderate it right away, but rest assured, I'll publish it as soon as I am able.

Cheers!

The snow has passed us by

The past few days we've spent bracing ourselves for another bout of winter, snow predicted, up to 10 inches! My head kept saying "No! It's March! This can't happen!" And luckily for the winter-weary, it did not. Spring has kept it's tenacious finger hold on us. Flurries fell and melted and the sun has returned today to make us warm.

Now it's April and I can't believe that I'm planning to go to the Orkneys in just a few short days! I'm bracing myself for cold and dark days there, but hoping for sun if no warmth. Just the journey there will be an adventure. Two flights, a car and a ferry that docks in the middle of the night... and then we'll be there! It's unreal to me still.

I follow Neil Gaiman's blog. That and his twitter feed were the ways he convinced me to give his novels another shot. (I hated Stardust.... with a passion... but I love American Gods and Anansi's Boys) Anyhow, his recent blog entry indicated he was in the Highlands writing. I thought that was cool, since that's what I'll be doing soon, too!

I don't know that I'll be able to blog every day while I'm travelling this time. It's possible, but I won't have a computer with me, so you may have to wait until I get back at the end of April and have time to process my trip before you get the story from me.

And today... Osprey

This amazing bird of prey hangs around our pond. Today I was able to photo him! We watched as he dived down, plummeting into our pond like a missile as he searched for fish... and then Noah saw him catch one and we watched him eat it in the tree outside our kitchen window. Nature is sure gruesome and awesome!

Sign of Spring: The swan returns

A break from Winter

This past weekend was warm in the Northeast. It would have been lovely to tramp around the countryside discovering all the budding and blooming flowers, hearing the cacophony of singing frogs in the forest.

Except, we went to Florida. The trip to a tropical clime was much needed after this long cold winter. We began thawing out immediately, soaking in every ounce of humidity and sun we could handle. I, of course, brought my camera to capture some of our trip.

Our good friend Emi got married at Epcot Center this weekend, which was why we went to Florida in the first place (aside from the thawing out). We had a wonderful time at her wedding, and she let me take photos of her and her sister getting ready that morning, to add to my portfolio. Here is a sampling of those photos:

And here are a couple photos at the ceremony...

We took it real easy at the resort, went to Epcot one afternoon, but mostly just laid around by the pool. It was lovely. At one point we took a series of buses to get to the Animal Kingdom Lodge, the resort connected to the Animal Kingdom Park. We ate a wonderful vegetarian lunch there and then spent some time watching the animals that live at the resort. It was better than the zoo :)

The rest are the photos I took at Epcot. The light was fading, so I had to work fast. :) We had a good time, though. It was nice to be with friends and in the warm weather and sunshine. Just a little shot of vitamin D to carry us through until it warms up for good here at home.

It snowed again this morning.