Wild and Sexy Scotland!

Finally, my second USC-funded trip -- this time to Scotland and the Highlands! I took the train with Vanessa and Caitlin from King's Cross to Edinburgh and while we were waiting for our train to arrive, I posed with Platform 9 3/4.

I guess I'm just a Muggle after all... no Hogwarts for me. =(

When we got into Edinburgh we found our hostel and then headed straight to Edinburgh Castle. It's by far my favorite castle in the world. The world! I know, it's a pretty bold statement, but I think it has very little to worry about. I mean, just look at it!

It was built on an inactive volcano and overlooks the entire city. Someone complained that the weather was a bit gloomy, but I think that the ominous clouds make it look even more awesome.

Almost exactly 4 years ago my high school band took a Europe trip -- here I am at 16 in front of Edinburgh Castle. Thought it'd be funny to include a picture from back in the day, so here it is! I think I look really young.

Vanessa, Kevin, and I being silly in Edinburgh Castle. It was fun to take a tour again and I enjoyed seeing it all again. There was a cool Royal Scots Dragoon Guards regimental museum and a really impressive war memorial. I've got to admit, I'm a really big fan of flags that were used in battle on display at memorials. The ones they had made the whole memorial more somber and impressive. I also got to see the Scottish Crown Jewels (which are no longer used... God Save the Queen -- of England) and the Stone of Destiny (which comes to England for coronations).

After Edinburgh Castle, I made my best purchase in Scotland (at the whiskey store, of course). Yum! The store was huge and I made a point of finding the most expensive whiskey they had so I could laugh at whoever would be stupid enough to buy it. 525 pounds for 700mL!! That's almost 25 pounds per shot.

After spending some quality time in the whiskey store, we walked through the a park beneath Edinburgh Castle. I think this is one of the prettiest views in Edinburgh. When I was in high school, we performed in this park.

What a beautiful fountain! I'm telling you, this is the best castle ever! A few of us played on some of the park equipment for a few minutes. They had swings, monkey bars, things to climb on. Only in Europe would there be a park with such a view.

We all met up at a Chinese Buffet for dinner, paid for by USC (hooray!). I love Chinese food, so it was really great. We introduced Caitlin to wine (haha), stuffed ourselves, and took as much advantage of the free drinks as we could. Plus, they had great desserts. After dinner, the USC students studying in Edinburgh showed us around. Appalled that we had never had fried Mars bars (apparently they're everywhere in Edinburgh?), they took us to a little place and opened our eyes to what we had been missing. It was delicious, but I'm glad I only had one... I think only a Tommy burger has made me feel like my insides were clogging more, haha. After that, we went to a pub with live folk music and watched as a small local folk band drank scotch and performed. It was really a great experience.


We ended the night at a jazz bar where one of the USC students played the sax. It was really great! I was really glad that the University of Edinburgh USC kids showed us around. It was a part of Edinburgh I definitely hadn't seen before and it made me love the city even more.

The next morning, we started our group tour... this is our tour bus. Vanessa and I are wild and sexy. Literally.

Out first stop on the tour -- Dunkeld Cathedral! It was very woodsy, which was different from any cathedrals I've visited before. I felt like it was Robin Hood's church. I really liked the feel of it, though. There was a cool cemetary in the back that was kind of falling down. Plus, it was right by the water and had beautiful trees everywhere!

I cropped Robin Hood out of the picture, per his request. He's a wanted man, you know.

After that, we drove by Loch Ness for a photo opp. Our tour guide told us a bunch of stories about people who claimed to see Nessie. I didn't, but no one's disproved her existence, so the jury's still out! ;)

Castle Urquhart, one of the many castles we drove by. Location, location, location! And it definitely has prime real estate. How pretty!

Before we headed to the hostel, we stopped by a store which had a clansman show. The guy who worked there dressed a few of us up in traditional highlands clothing and showed us how to battle with the types of weapons they used back in the day -- longswords and huge shields with spikes on them! Ouch.

The men's kilts were surprisingly versatile. It reminded me of when my friends and I established "kilt day" at my high school (haha!).

After the presentation, we drove to hostel by Loch Ness and had dinner there. The rooms at hostel were named after different Scottish films -- mine was Rob Roy. I thought it was a cute idea.

Vanessa, Caitlin, and I walked to Loch Ness to enjoy the view for a bit. We're adorable. =)

After a good night's rest, we drove to Eilean Donan castle. It's one of the most famous castles in Scotland and it's no wonder why -- it's so pretty! Plus it's in pretty good condition, so you can tour the whole thing. We learned a lot about different clans and walked the grounds. The banqueting hall was impressive with swords on display and many clan shields hung on the walls. They also had the kitchen set up with wax people, which was fun, but also a bit distracting.


I climbed on the rocks right outside the castle. This is one of my favorites from the trip... I look so pensive.



Best kilt ever!! Hahaha. Random, I know, but I wanted to include this picture and it was taken in the Eilean Donan castle gift shop.

That afternoon, we continued our tour of the Highlands to the Isle of Skye!

One of the stops we made was to a magic stream. Apparently two battling clans were going to marry into each others' family. Unfortunately, on the eve of the wedding, the bride was attacked. Her beautiful face ended up disfigured, so she started to cry. But all of a sudden (what great luck!) some fairies came to her and told her to put her face in the stream and she would be healed. Once she followed the fairy's instructions, she was healed! So now the guys in the picture are testing their luck. ;)

We stopped in a little town for lunch. There was an adorable place whose outside was painted blue plaid. Obviously I couldn't resist, so that's where my friends and I had lunch. We spent an hour or so walking around the town and found an amazingly cheap and delicious bakery. We all stocked up on goodies for the ride.

Here's another legend... there once were two friendly giants who were married. The giant and his wife went on top of a mountain every day to tell stories to their fairy friends. But over time the wife got older and couldn't keep climbing the mountain. The husband told the fairies that they'd have to stop telling their stories, but the fairies convinced to come up again one last time. After the giants obliged, the fairies turned them into stone so they could never leave! The tall rock on the right is the male giant and the ones to his left are the wife (she fell down).

The rest of the day was spent driving to amazingly beautiful glens. The tour guide would park the bus and let us explore for the better part of an hour, so Kevin Maloney and I would hike up the tallest thing we could find and hang out there for a bit.


I LOVE this picture! =) This was one of the first glens we explored. There was a beautiful waterfall there, too!

Jump! This view at Cuith-Raing was absolutely incredible. I'm so glad that Kevin and I climbed all the way up here -- it was really peaceful just enjoying the view with no one else around.

That night we stayed at "Saucy Mary's" lodge, a great little hostel/bar. The dinner there was great, the beer was cheap, and they had a pool table! A bunch of us played pool (as usual), and had a couple of their specialty shots, (my favorite was called "Beam Me Up, Scotty"). Later in the evening, a nice Australian couple taught Vanessa, Caitlin, and I how to play darts. Personally, I'm not sure who thought having darts in a bar was a good idea, but luckily no one was hurt. ;) I got a bullseye once, though! Pure luck, I assure you.

The next morning began our drive back to Edinburgh. We made a few fun stops along the way and had lunch at McDonalds. I played the Monopoly game they run and won -- porridge. Honestly, why would McDonalds give away free porridge?! Oh, right. Because no one will eat it if it's not free! Needless to say, I did not claim my prize, haha.

We visited a WWI memorial and walked around Glencoe, the site of a massacre in the late 1600s. Apparently, the MacDonald clan leader refused to sign an oath of allegiance with England's King William III.

My favorite stop was definitely to pay a visit to Hamish, the most famous Highland cow (pronounced "coo"). Our tour guide told us that someone fed him a carrot using his mouth (ew) and ended up with a case of bovine herpes (double ew), so I kept my distance.

MOO!

Once we got back to Edinburgh, Vanessa, Caitlin and I hopped the first train to London to begin another set of adventures. The Scotland trip was such a fun way to begin my 2 weeks of straight travel... I'm so excited for the adventures to come!!