Europe Trip - Day 21

Day 21 - Going home

Waiting in the plane to take off in Edinburgh

Flying over Greenland... can you see all the icebergs?

Greenland again

Waiting in the JFK airport... FINALLY able to text again. YES!

Cool sunset while we were waiting to take off.

New York by night :)

So... as some of you know... I have finally come home. It was quite the long trip back. I think it took like 15 hours for me to actually get home. We had to wake up real early Wednesday morning so we could get ready, pick up the car, and get to the airport. My dad's flight left almost 2 hours before mine and mom's... so that's the main reason we had to get up so early. We got there in time even though dad was stressing cuz he thought we were going to be late. When he finally got on the plane, me and mom had a bit to just sit around. I didn't know what to do cuz you had to pay to use the internet in the airport... so I just played some chess on my computer till it was time to head to our gate and wait to get seated. It didn't seem too long, so that was good. I was just worried cuz it was 7 1/2 hour flight from Edinburgh to New York... which is where our layover was. It seemed like that was going to be the longest flight EVER cuz I decided not to sleep at all the entire trip home so I would be able to go to bed once I got home. The 7 1/2 hours actually went by really fast because... luckily enough... the plane we were on had those screens that were in the back of the head rests and the movies were on demand. I was really excited. They had like 20 movies you could pick from. I ended up watching 3... almost 4 movies before we landed. It made the trip go by extremely fast. I didn't even know it had been 7 hours. It was nice to watch movies besides the one's on my computer too. We got to New York... went through the passport check... got our luggage... went through customs... dropped off our luggage... and still had like a 4 hour wait till our next plane left to Salt Lake. That was such a long wait. There was absolutely nothing to do. I wandered around the terminal for a bit... and then went back so mom could wander around for a bit. Cuz you know... someone had to stay with our stuff so we didn't have to lug it around everywhere. I ended up watching Wall-E again so I had something to pass the time. The wait was finally over and we got onto the plane. By this time I was getting pretty tired already cuz in England it would've been like midnight. I still had a 5 hour flight ahead of me to stay awake for. It was really hard. I watched the movie... which wasn't the most entertaining movie. It was called "Recount" and it was an entire movie about the recount in Florida when Gore and Bush ran for president last time. UGH!! I could've shot myself. Unless you're into politics... which I am not... I don't really recommend it. That ended and I didn't know what to do with myself cuz we still had like 2 hours. I pulled out my Ipod and was going to listen to music till I realized I had ONE movie on my Ipod I could watch... I started watching "The Three Musketeers". I hadn't watched it in a while, but it was hard to follow cuz the noise from the plane was loud and the volume wasn't very loud during the movie for some reason... even though it was up full blast. I did it though. I stayed awake the entire trip... while mom slept next to me. Blah. We pulled in... and I was so excited the trip home was over. I was also excited to see my brothers Jamey and David... and Brian... cuz they came to pick us up. We exchanged hugs and went to the luggage claim. Got our stuff and went home. I was happy to be home... to be in my own bed... to not have to share a room with anyone anymore... to see my babies! At first I think they didn't really know what to think of me, but Abbi ended up sleeping with me last night... and waking me up this morning wanting attention. Ah... I missed that. :) When I woke up both my babies were on my bed this morning. I think I slept for almost 12 hours last night... and felt pretty good when I got actually got up this morning. Anyway... I'm home safe and sound... and trying to recoperate from my trip. :) The trip was amazing, but I am also glad I'm home. I'll probably be wanting to go back in like a week or two though. :) HA! BYE!

Europe Trip - Day 20

Day 20 - Edinburgh, Scotland

This is the Palace of Holyroodhouse

Dad hiding from the rain

The Edinburgh Castle

The gates of most castles are always kinda creepy looking

This gun goes off daily precisly at 1:00 pm... except for like 3 days out of the year. I'm glad I knew about it before 1:00 or I would've crapped myself. :)

Cemetary specifically for the dogs of soldiers... can you see the headstones along the wall?

Ah Macbeth... I knew thee well... wait...

Memorial church where all the names of the soliders that were killed throughout the centuries are kept

This is where they keep the crown jewels and the Stone of Destiny

Heading down to the war prisons

Sleeping areas for the prisoners

Seems pretty cramped. Beds with hammocks over the top of them. How would you like to live like this?

Aww... how cute... all tuckered out

The Last Supper.... in Europe. HA

Me working on my blog in the lounge. Gotta love self-timers. :) HA!!

The weather finally caught up with us today in Scotland. It had been really nice the last couple days... and everyone had been saying it had been raining for two weeks before we showed up, but of course my last day here it rains. It's all good though. It wasn't a big deal. It rained worse while we were in Paris and London. :) We only had two specific spots we wanted to see today... Edinburgh Castle and the Palace of Holyroodhouse. Our hostel is almost exactly halfway between the two so we just decided to start at the bottom of the Royal Mile and work our way back up to the shopping areas and the Edinburgh Castle. So we headed down to Holyroodhouse... every so often stopping in souvenir shops trying to find something to take home. We got down there and found out how much it was to get in. Mom didn't think we really needed to go inside because she figured it was about the same as most of the other palaces we've seen. :) So we went to the gift shop and looked through a souvenir book with pictures of the inside of the palace. haha! Cheapest and fastest way of seeing something. :) The main reason we wanted to go to it was because it was the residence of Mary, Queen of Scots... who apparently somewhere down the line... the Rail family comes from. I've learned a couple things about my family while being in Europe... most recent is that I'm some sort of decendant of Mary, Queen of Scots (not sure how)... and from the Morrison Clan. So... I guess that's part of where the red hair comes from. HA! :) Dad was saying that we're also German... and he thinks some Irish as well. Anywho... after that... we started making it the little over half mile back up the hill to the castle. Of course looking in shops as we go. :) We finally made it back up and paid our fees to get into the castle. We also got me an audio guide. Mom and dad didn't want one I guess, but I find them very informative. We decided to split ways so I could follow the audio guide and mom and dad could look around as they wanted to without having to wait for me. We'd just meet up at the cafe once I was done to have lunch. It wasn't the biggest castle we've been too, but it was pretty cool. It seemed more like a fortress than a castle... there weren't as many rooms and stuff to see that people would have stayed in. I did learn a lot about the the armies and wars in Scotland though. Pretty interesting stuff. I got to see the Stone of Destiny (or the Stone of Scone.. pronounced skoon) and the Scottish crown jewels. I also got to go down into a war prison and see where they kept the prisoners during the wars and such. Besides seeing where they were buried... they had on display the wooden doors that the prisoners would carve initials... dates... designs... etc into while they were there. After I walked around the castle and was wet enough... I went to the cafe and grabbed some grub with the parentals. We then proceeded to head back down the mile. Mom wanted to stop and see how they weaved the kilts in the kilt factory place. I wanted to go across the street and see the history and how they make whiskey, but... that didn't happen. Mom and dad were going to go back to the room, but I still hadn't found a souvenir like I wanted to... so they left and off I was by myself. I just hit some shops and finally got myself something. And as I walked back to go warm up in the room... I stopped by a jewelry stand and ended up talking to an Italian guy... and the guy who ran the stand... who I believe was from Spain. It was pretty interesting and they were really nice. I bought a couple things there and left to go back to the room. I found mom reading and dad sleeping... so I got on the computer and talked to Jamey, Michael and Shawndra for a bit. :) Then we decided it was time to go get dinner... so we went to a nearby Italian restaurant for our last real meal in Europe. It's kind of sad. I can't believe it's my last night and then I have to go back to real life. I don't know if I can do it!!! I guess I don't have much of a choice. Well.. I have to go shower and get ready for bed. Gotta try and get to bed a bit early cuz I have to get up at 6:00 to get ready and get to the airport. Boo! I hate early mornings... which is all I've had on this trip. Blah! :) See you guys soon!!!

Europe Trip - Day 19

Day 19 - Edinburgh, Scotland

The view from one of the windows at our bed and breakfast

Starting off to Macbeth's castle

Come on dad!!

I thought these tress that we had to walk by look really creepy

On the top of that hill is where they believe Macbeth's Castle once stood


I have conquered the hill

Mom conquered the pile of rocks... haha... j/k

This is called a "kissing gate". I thought it was kind of cute.

Our hostel room... the far top one is mine!

Mom making her bed after she made dad's

Umm... yeah...

Walking up a small side street

This is where the dinner and show was held

There were like 20 peacocks just wandering around the grounds

The room where the show was held

Just waiting to get our dinner

YEEHAW!!

This... is... haggis. And proof I had at lease ONE bite of it.

Trying to get some good pictures of the show

Rockin' the bagpipes

Today was the drive to the last destination we will be going to in Europe... and that place would be Edinburgh, Scotland (pronounced Ed-in-burrow). But... before we headed straight there... we tried to go to find this place by Perth that was in one of the books that I had from the travel class I took Fall semester. It said it was called Macbeth's castle... so of course I wanted to go see what it was all about. It was a whole lot harder to find than we thought it would be. No one in Inverness really knew where it was... or even knew what it was. I ended up going to the Tourist Information Center in Inverness before we left to ask. The lady there didn't really know what I was talking about, but gave me a tourist booklet for Perth and it showed all the castles in that area. At first I thought it was one castle because that's what I thought the travel class book had said it was called, but as I was reading the descriptions of the castles... there was this one that was called Dunsinane Hill Fort... and right in the description it said that it was known by the locals as the Macbeth Castle. WOOHOO!!! So... we went there. It was still pretty hard to find because it was... just out in a small little countryside. When we got there (after asking around a bit for directions), we had to hike up this hill. It was a nice little excercise after driving around so much. We got there as a field trip class was getting there. They were gonna hike up to it too to do a reinactment of some attack that happened there that took the fortress down. Which brings me to what was there... nothing really... just a hill... with a pile of rocks to mark where the fortress/castle had been. No one is positive if it was the same castle that was in Shakespeare's Macbeth, but they believe it is because there is a line in the play refering specifically to that hill. It wasn't a bad hike and it had a great view... so I didn't complain. :) I thought it was kinda cool. Me and mom were the only ones who made it all the way up... dad only made it about halfway and needed to turn back because he was hurting still from his fall yesterday. After the hike... it was back down the hill and to the car to check how dad was doing and head off to Edinburgh. We decided to try something different here... so instead of a hotel or a bed and breakfast... we're staying in a hostel. It's actually a really nice hostel. Not what I thought it would be at all. When I think hostel... I think low budget, crappy hole in the wall, but I guess they fixed this one up all nice. It's still funny though cuz we have bunkbeds. I was all excited that the first thing I said was "I call top!!". Dad just kind of laughed. We had to make our own beds... the bedding was just sitting on top of it. We did that... and dad layed down for a bit while me and mom went outside with the map we got at the front desk so she could get her berrings as to where we were at. She's kind of funny about needing to know where she is and what direction she is facing at all times. :) Once she figured that out... we went back up to our room to get ready for the dinner and show we were going to. The show was called "A Taste of Scotland". I didn't know what to expect, but it was actually REALLY good. It had a 3 course meal before the show started. The show was full of jokes, scottish dancing, bagpipes, scottish songs, and even some scottish history. It was fun to watch. I couldn't get a lot of good pictures in, but I did record a lot of the show. I'm not sure if I was supposed to or not, but I did anyway. :) They even had some parts where they'd show you a simple scottish dance and then the dancers would go pick people to have dance with them on the floor. Thank goodness I didn't get picked. I would've been so embarrassed. But now I know two scottish dances... if I can remember them after a couple days. :) The food was great... the show was great... but all great things come to an end. The show ended around 10 and we got a taxi back to our hostel. Of course mom and dad are in the room asleep. I'm down in the lounge area of the hostel because that's where the best internet reception is. I probably should go get in bed though. I'm not sure when we're getting up in the morning, but I do know that I just have to go with my parents to two things in the morning and then I get to go out and about Edinburgh by myself. Gonna do some shopping and exploring on my own for the first time this whole trip. :) Oh well... it'll still be fun. Tschus!

Europe Trip - Day 18

Day 18 - Inverness, Scotland

Driving through the highlands of Scotland...

More of the highlands...

And even more...

This is Loch Ness... Can you see Nessie??

THERE SHE IS!!

Exploring the streets of Inverness

Inverness Castle

ALL MUST WORSHIP CHARLIE THE UNICORN!!

My secret magical forest


This is the bed and breakfast we stayed at... well... at least as much of it as I could get in the pic.

It seems like the closer we get to going home… the less running around we’re doing. Just a lot of driving. ☺ Today was another driving day. We packed up and left Glasgow this morning. It was a really pretty drive though. Almost all the pictures I got today were just of scenery. I couldn’t help myself… it was just so pretty wherever we went. I guess that’s what happens when you drive through the highlands of Scotland. As we were driving to Inverness we got to drive by Loch Ness. Tried to see if we could see Nessie, but no luck. ☺ Dad pulled off at one spot just off the side of the road to see if we could go down some trail to the water so we could take pictures. It seemed like a good idea… but didn’t turn out to be so much. Dad went down the trail first and it was a bit steep. Me and I were a bit behind him and he started going down pretty fast. I thought he was just trying to get past the steep-ish part fast, but I guess he just couldn’t control himself going down and he fell down. He fell down pretty hard too. I was so scared, I ran down to him. I kept asking him if he was ok… it took him a minute to answer me. He had side swiped a rock that was sticking out of the ground, but his head wasn’t bleeding or anything… so that was good thing. He said he was pretty dizzy and sat for a second. Then I helped him get up and he said that he was seeing double. I was pretty worried about him. We all hiked back up to the car once dad wasn’t seeing two of me… and I kept asking him if he was ok to drive. I guess he was… cuz we were off again. Inverness was about 20 more minutes further down the road, so not too far to drive. We found our bed and breakfast in Inverness and got our stuff up to the room. Dad wanted to take a nap, but I told him that he shouldn’t in case he had a concussion or something. I’m pretty sure he didn’t… I checked his pupils, but it’s better to be safe than sorry. He did end up staying at the bed and breakfast while me and mom walked to the center of town to explore. There wasn’t much open because… one, it was after 5… and two, it’s Sunday. After wandering about for about 2 hours… we walked back to the B&B to grab dad and go have something to eat. Dad was just chillin’ in the room reading his book… so we decided to check out a hotel that we had seen down the road that had a restaurant. We were checking out the menu at the place and listening to the loud Scottish music that was playing in the bar connected to the restaurant… and while we were doing that… a couple locals started talking to us, trying to tell us to try this chicken that had haggis. Ew! Wasn’t about to happen. ☺ We talked to them for a bit and found out that the reason there was a big celebration happening in the bar section was cuz they were saying goodbye to a barmaid. It was her last day. She was moving. We finally said bye and headed into the restaurant. We weren’t very hungry so we just had a small dinner, but it was good. It was cool to listen to the Scottish music going on. At one point there were bagpipes. It was fun. After dinner we headed back to our room. Now… we’re just sitting about… the tv in here has a VHS player… and there were a couple movies… mostly Disney. So we’re watching “Mary Poppins”. But I do need to take a shower and plug my computer in… the battery is getting really low. So I’m going to have to say bubye for now. See ya later alligator!