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@thewildfireinside
“Still, despite all this, traveling is the great true love of my life. I have always felt, ever since I was sixteen years old and first went to Russia with my saved-up babysitting money, that to travel is worth any cost or sacrifice. I am loyal and constant in my love for travel, as I have not always been loyal and constant in my other loves. I feel about travel the way a happy new mother feels about her impossible, colicky, restless, newborn baby–I just don’t care what it puts me through. Because I adore it. Because it’s mine. Because it looks exactly like me. It can barf all over me if it wants to–I just don’t care.”
ELIZABETH GILBERT, Eat, Pray, Love
Our last day in the United Kingdom was an interesting and sad day. I woke up that morning feeling slightly under the weather with head congestion and a stuffy nose, but I was eager to see what Belfast had in store for us on our last real day in the United Kingdom. We walked to the harbor, about a mile from our hotel, and visited the birthplace of the Titanic, and the Titanic Museum. The area that we walked was where the Titanic (and it’s sister ships) was designed, built, and launched. We saw the slip-yard where the giant ship was built and launched into the water.
The museum was fascinating! The structure of it itself was beautiful. The museum took us through Belfast during the time period and how it was the perfect location for shipbuilding. We got to see how the Titanic was built, the day-to-day lives of the dock workers that built it, the materials used, and the dangers the workers experienced ever day. It took us through building it, launching it into the harbor, adding the boilers that powered it, the infamous funnels, and all the elegant and elaborate furniture and decor. We got to see the set up of a first-class, second-class, and third-class rooms on board the ship and the different White Star Line china plates that were used for the different class citizens. And then we got to the sinking of the ship; there were the distress signals that the Titanic sent out all over walls and videos of survivors speaking about that fateful day. And then they had videos of the recovery attempts of the Titanic.
The slip-yard where the Titanic was built and launched. You can see the outline of where the Titanic was on this slip-yard.
After spending time at the Titanic Museum I could really feel my cold start to kick in and there was no way I would be able to walk to and walk around the Ulster Museum so we returned to our hotel and decided to take a nap, maybe I would feel better after that to continue exploring, but I was bedridden and we stayed in for the rest of the night. We did however get to watch the building across the street from us catch on fire. We looked out the window at all the smoke billowing out and the firefighters that came and put it out quickly. It was an exciting moment for a bit, but then I went back in to bed and watching TV. I was sad to have spent my last real day in the UK in bed, but if I had known what was coming in the next 36 hours, I would have gladly been sleeping the day away.
3:00 AM: I set about twelve alarms to go off 1-2 minutes apart just to make sure we didn’t sleep through them. We had packed up all of our stuff already so we were able to quickly get ready and check out of the hotel. We reached Belfast International Airport just before 4:00 and returned our rental car. At this point I was feeling awful. I had no cold medicine or tissues or anything and I just wanted to sleep. But when we went to check in our bags at the EasyJet counter and the girl told us our flight was delayed four hours to London, I quickly perked up due to adrenaline. We were supposed to fly into London Gatwick and land around 7:00 AM. Our WOW air flight was 12:20 from Gatwick to Reykjavik, Iceland. A 4 hour delay would barely give us time. Luckily there was another EasyJet flight leaving Belfast at the same time as our other flight except it was landing in London Stansted. They put us on that one for free and we were able to get through security and get some breakfast. I hate how airports in Europe (as far as I’ve seen) don’t tell you your gate until 30-45 minutes before it takes off! I absolutely hate that, because when I get to an airport I like to go to my gate immediately just so I know where it is and then go exploring to grab some food or just wait patiently at the gate. We just sat in the airport, counting down the minutes until they showed us where our gate was located on the screen and then had to rush off in the direction it told us too. Now London Stansted is one of London’s more northern airports and London Gatwick is it’s most southern. So we flew in to Stansted and then spent almost 100 GBP and almost 3 hours on trains to get all the way down to London Gatwick, where we still almost didn’t make our WOW air flight. And Alex almost got arrested at the Tube station in Victoria. Instead of using his train ticket as we exited the Stansted Express, he pulled out his Oystercard and his oystercard was then charged like over 7 GBP which was way more than he had on it and he couldn’t get through into the tube station while I was on the other side like What the Fuck is happening. Some lady let him squeeze through with her and that’s when the police officer stopped him and asked him if he would like to spend a night in London jail. He had to go back through, put some more money on his card and then we were on our way again to get to the Gatwick Express to the airport. At Gatwick, we stood in line at the WOW air bag check-in and of course in front of us were about three large groups of people all checking in, seriously like each group had 5-10 people in it. We barely made the bag-close time for our flight and went up to security amidst the loudspeaker apologizing for the huge delays in security. We were starting to mildly freak out. As we got up to security they had just opened up another station and we actually made it through rather quickly for security standards. We then rushed to our gate and waited a few minutes before boarding the WOW air jet to Iceland.
The flight to Iceland was less than three hours and we got to see beautiful views of the country as we landed. I only wished our layover was longer so we could get out and explore! I’ve always wanted to see Iceland. When we landed we walked down the steps of the plane onto Icelandic soil (or tarmac) and had to take a shuttle to the main airport. So I can say that yes, I’ve been to Iceland before, because I actually stepped outside the airport (ha!). We quickly bought some snacks that I thought I would be able to eat, wasn’t entirely sure because the ingredients were in Icelandic. And then we looked at our tickets. We were sitting in different seats from each other. On a NINE HOUR FLIGHT. I knew there must be a mistake, I had purchased the seats online myself and knew we were sitting together! We went to the help desk by our gate and they told us that they had to switch the aircraft last minute and had to assign random seats. We could get our money back for paying for the seats later though. Our hopes rested on the fact that maybe one of our seat companions would willingly switch so that we could sit together.
We got seats just across the aisle from each other by the emergency exit so we had plenty of leg room. But as we got onto the plane we realized the plane did not have an essential component for long ass flights across the world: a TV! What the hell kind of airline doesn’t have TV’s for transatlantic flights? We quickly found out a few things about WOW air on this trip, and are unlikely to use them again unless we are flying to Iceland (and even then, maybe not). WOW Air tickets are SUPER cheap, like stupidly incredibly cheap. Even during peak-season to London, like when we went, the price was unbeatable. However; we had to pay for baggage and for our seats. They don’t offer food or drinks, not even water, you have to pay (A LOT) for anything. Seriously we had to pay $3 for a small water bottle. And they don’t have ANY in flight entertainment. And we were on a backpacking trip of the UK, we didn’t bring our laptops and didn’t have any movies on our phone. The plane didn’t offer Wifi to buy; there was nothing. After purchasing baggage, seats (that we didn’t even get to use), food and drinks, the price probably equaled that of a British Airways or United Flight, which would have offered complementary drinks, food, and had the TV’s! I fortunately had my book and my music of course, but Alex didn’t bring anything! I love reading on flights, but nothing makes the time pass faster than watching movies.
So when everyone took their seats, we asked the girl next to me if she would trade and hop over the aisle to Alex’s seat so that we could sit together. She said “no” and that she had paid a lot for this seat. I hadn’t expected a flat out no like that; I grumbled that we had also paid for seats together but that didn’t work out. She still refused. Luckily the guy next to Alex was much more understanding and switched with me so that Alex and I were able to sit next to each other on the long flight. I don’t know what he would have done if I didn’t sit next to him because he spent the next eight hours playing minesweeper on my phone as I read.
Before we got in the air though we sat in the plane for almost two hours. That’s right, they put us all on the plane and then we sat on the tarmac for TWO FUCKING HOURS before our flight took off because of some air traffic problem. We could’ve been in the airport, eating dinner instead of having to buy terrible, over-priced airplane food, but instead we sat. Two hours later we were up in the air. At that point we had already been up and traveling for about 16 hours and we were exhausted; but seriously, how can anyone sleep on a plane? We tried so hard! Anyway, longest, most boring flight. Luckily we were at the emergency exit with our huge amount of leg room and the bathrooms were right in front of us so we had an easy time with those. I had to go in every two seconds to get more tissue to blow my nose because I was entirely sick and miserable. Nothing is worse than traveling when you’re sick.
As we landed in LAX, my head and ears were so congested that they refused to pop; it was such a painful landing for me, I thought my head would explode. But as we landed and my ears didn’t pop, I seriously could not hear a thing. It was awful! After landing we walked out of the plane onto the tarmac and had to take a shuttle to the airport. Seriously, what the hell, I don’t think WOW Air has a hanger, we landed out in the middle of nowhere and had to take this long ass shuttle ride to the airport, where we stood in line FOREVER to get through passport check and customs. Seriously, the LAX customs was so unorganized, I had never experienced anything like it. We got through 5X faster in London and we were the FOREIGNERS! We were U.S. citizens here and it took maybe an hour to get through? Maybe more? At London Heathrow, when we first arrived, it was such a quick process, and even quicker for the UK and EU residents who got to walk through a different line and basically just flash their passports. Customs at LAX were awful and there were so many pointless steps involved. We had to scan our own passport and confirm information that we already confirmed on the immigration form they have us fill out on the plane. It then takes your picture and prints out a slip of paper with your info and picture on it. (What the hell is a passport for then?!) Homeland security then stamped the stupid paper instead of passport (seriously what is our passport for then?! The stupid paper literally had the same info as our passport!) and then we handed our cards in to the guy and went to get our baggage and NOT declare anything and hand in our little paper passports. My god it was a ridiculous process.
So now we were finally at LAX, much later than we had planned to be. We were going to take a bus to the MetroLink and take a train to Ontario or San Bernardino. I looked up the train times and we were too late for any of the trains that would take us to Ontario and the only train we could make for San Bernardino left at 9:45 PM and didn’t get to San Bernardino until midnight. We were so exhausted, we had been up for over 27 hours, and we were not going to take a train to San Bernardino at midnight. If anyone has ever been into the depths of SB, it is quite terrifying, even in daylight. Luckily, we have amazing friends that do amazing things for us, and our two friends drove out to LAX to pick us up and take us straight home in the comfort of their car where I could sleep and not worry about my stuff being stolen.
I wish I could say that was the end of our crazy travels, but the next morning we woke up and drove 7+ hours to Northern California where we stayed at our parents’ house for a few days before driving back down again (but this time with my mom and dog, Sirius) to move the rest of my things out to Arizona. But that’s a whole other story.
Despite our travel day from hell, I look back so fondly on our trip. It ended way too soon, I could have stayed and traveled for weeks and weeks after. The United Kingdom was a beautiful, fun, and history-filled place to travel around. There was still so much to see and I can’t wait to return to explore it some more! Scotland was definitely the highlight of the trip, but I can’t think of a single day that I did not enjoy.We learned a lot about the countries, the cultures, and the histories of each country we visited. The people were so wonderful and kind, and we made so many memories. I highly recommend a jaunt across the pond to the U.K. for anyone.
Already missing the green hills of bonnie Scotland, the bustling streets of London, and the misty roads of Northern Ireland’s coast.
Our Last Day in the U.K. “Still, despite all this, traveling is the great true love of my life. I have always felt, ever since I was sixteen years old and first went to Russia with my saved-up babysitting money, that to travel is worth any cost or sacrifice.
“The world is full of magic things, patiently waiting for our senses to grow sharper.”
W.B. YEATS
From Glasgow International Airport we flew (on EasyJet) to Belfast International Airport. It was the shortest flight I have ever been on, I think we were in the air for a total of 24 minutes. I had barely opened up my book when the captain announced we would be landing in 15 minutes.
We rented another car at the airport to use for exploring Northern Ireland, and drove to our hotel in Belfast. We walked around the town a little that evening, and found a wonderful dinner spot at a restaurant called Home where we shared a half bottle of wine, had delicious soup, and gluten free chocolate cake! The restaurant was very “hip” in American standards (I’ve found that most of Europe is super hipster without even trying) with artwork on the walls and classic rock (Zeppelin, Hendrix, Beatles) playing in the background.
View of Belfast from our hotel window
The next morning we got up bright and early to spend our day exploring the Northern Ireland’s coast (and hitting up all the Game of Thrones filming spots we could!) we drove along the Causeway Coastal route and started off with beautiful views of Ireland’s coast. Ireland is very green, which I assumed it would be. However, it is different from the green of Scotland. The green in Ireland reminds me of the green on the East Coast of the U.S. It’s a darker green, a more manicured green in comparison with Scotland’s wild, fairy green. I’m sure you all are wondering why I care so much about the green; it’s just so breathtaking. Also it’s my favorite color, that might have something to do with my obsession…
We stopped in Cushendall for brunch at a cute little tea shop where we were provided with two large plates of traditional English breakfast and a pot of tea! We were charmed by the locals and had a laugh when a man walked in with “an allergic reaction to watermelon!” He had a small, hollowed out watermelon with a slit in the middle, and was pretending it was his mouth, moving it up and down as he talked. We drove to the next town over, Cushendun and visited our first Game of Thrones Filming Spot: The Caves of Cushendun. These caves are featured in Season Two, where Melisandre gives birth to the Shadow that kills Renly Baratheon. The caves were so interesting, the walls were green and red and had formations akin to dinosaur eggs. After exploring the caves and making many references to our beloved show, we got back on the Causeway Coastal Route and continued our beautiful drive along the coast.
Our second Game of Thrones spot: The Dark Hedges. The Dark Hedges, a famous landmark in Ireland, were used as the Kingsroad, north of Kings of Landing and was shown when Arya Stark was traveling north after her father is killed. The Hedges are a tunnel formed by this avenue of beech trees; the trees are estimated to be about 300-350 years old. Local folklore also tells of “The Grey Lady” that haunts the tunnel, Bregagh Road. The tunnel was stunning, I only wish we had gotten there at a time when no one was around, no cars or people to ruin my pictures through the tunnel. One day, when I have more than two and a half days in Northern Ireland, I will find the perfect time to return to the Dark Hedges and get my picture.
Scottish Thistle <3
The Carrick-a-rede rope bridge was next on our agenda. I wasn’t sure what to expect with this bridge; all I knew of it was that it was a rope bridge suspended over an 100 foot drop connecting an island to the mainland that salmon fishers had used to check their salmon nets. It was pouring rain when we first started our walk along the coastal foot path but as we continued our way up, the clouds parted and beautiful sun lit up the coast.
We stood in the queue to cross the swinging rope bridge, only eight people are allowed on it at a time. Some people got to the point of crossing and decided to turn back, too afraid to cross the little rope bridge to the other side. Looking down, the cliffside and crashing water below was daunting, but there was no way I wasn’t going to cross that thing. Crossing the bridge was exhilarating as it moved and swung under our feet as we crossed to the other side. Of course I looked down, and of course my mind went to “what if we’re the ones that finally bring this bridge crashing down into the ocean below?” but we made it safely to the other side and were able to explore the little island and take in views of Ireland’s coast. We were also able to see the shadowy coast of Scotland off in the distance! The rope bridge turned out to be one of our favorite things that day; probably because we were pleasantly surprised by how fun it was and how beautiful the expansive views were. To get back to the mainland we had to cross back over the the rope bridge. At one point the people in the front stopped at the end of the bridge, leaving Alex and I out in the middle, slowly swinging back and forth as our lives flashed before our eyes and my heart pounded in my chest.
Just down the road from the rope bridge was the Giant’s Causeway, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The polygonal columns of basalt were formed 60 million years ago from a volcanic eruption. The legend (and how the causeway got it’s name) of the formation was that an Irish giant, Fionn Mac Cumhaill (or Finn MacCool) built the causeway to meet and fight a Scottish giant on the other side to Scotland. When Finn MacCool saw the Scottish giant, he hid and his wife disguised him as a baby. When the Scottish giant, Benandonner, saw the “baby” he thought that his father must be Finn, and must be of monstrous size, and he ran away back to Scotland, destroying the Causeway. Across the way on the Scottish island of Staffa are identical basalt columns from the same volcanic eruption. Most of the columns were perfect, interlocking hexagons; it was incredible that they are natural formations! It was a rainy, misty day out on the Causeway, and tons of tourists accompanied us there, but we had an enjoyable time climbing on the slippery columns and taking pictures.
Exhausted, we decided to head back to Belfast after our long day along the coast. There was still a lot we had wanted to see, but not enough time in the day. Like I said, next time I come back, we’re staying for awhile, and I will get to see all the beautiful spots and Game of Thrones locations! As far as GoT goes, we also drove through the Glens of Antrim which is where the castle of Runestone is located, in the Vale of Arryn; and through Cairncastle which are the lands north of Winterfell.
NEXT: Our last day in The U.K. and our Travel Day from HELL
Northern Ireland aka Westeros "The world is full of magic things, patiently waiting for our senses to grow sharper." W.B. YEATS…
“The birthplace of Valour, the country of Worth; Wherever I wander, wherever I rove, the hills of the Highlands for ever I love.”
ROBERT BURNS
The Highlands: nothing has enraptured me more in life.
We took a train to Glasgow International Airport to pick up our rental car so we could travel through the Highlands with ease. Alex drove, finding it strange to drive on the opposite side of the car and the opposite side of the rode. We quickly became accustomed to it and the drive into the Highlands wasn’t terribly complicated.
We drove along windy, country roads beside Loch Lomond and through the majestic, green mountains and hills of Glencoe. Glencoe was magical, beyond anything I had seen before. The green in Scotland is so different from green I have ever seen. It’s so, so green, that it’s entirely unnatural. In my mind I called it fairy green.
We drove through Fort William, Fort Augustus, along Loch Ness and finally reached our destination of Inverness, mouth of the River Ness, and capital of the Highlands. The little town of Inverness was wonderful, with old churches, shops and houses overlooking the River Ness. We walked around the quaint city, stopping at Leakey’s Book Shop (Book HEAVEN) that contained multiple stories of old and used books spanning hundreds of years. We explored some old churches and their graveyards, and visited Inverness Castle which is now used as a courthouse. At the front of the castle is a large statue in memorandum of Flora McDonald, the Highlander woman who helped Bonnie Prince Charlie escape after the Battle of Culloden and end of the Jacobite Uprising. The bluff that the castle sits on has excellent views of the entire city and river. The street signs were all in Gaelic with English subtitles.
Leakey’s Book Shop
Inverness Castle
The first morning in the Highlands we drove to Culloden Moor, where the Battle of Culloden occurred in 1746 when the Bonnie Prince Charlie came back from exile to try to take back the English throne for his family, the Stuarts. As a fan of the Outlander book series by Diana Gabaldon, and the Outlander TV show on Starz, Culloden Moor was especially interesting to me. It was a wet and misty morning when we arrived at the Battlefield and Visitor Center. The fog and rain were very appropriate for the somber feeling that settled on us upon entering the battlefield.
The inside of the visitor centre was incredible. It offered informative and interesting facts regarding the Jacobite uprising that led to the fateful battle of Culloden. The one side of the wall that weaved through the centre had the Jacobite’s side of things and the other side had the English government’s side of events. The Jacobite Uprising, or the ’45, as it is commonly referred to, was Charles Stuart’s attempt to reclaim the throne for his family, the Stuarts, who had been exiled. He raised supporters throughout Scotland, mainly the Highland Clansmen, called Jacobites, to fight for his cause. They had a few victories against the English until the Battle of Culloden. The night before the battle, the Jacobites had planned a surprised night attack while the English would be celebrating the Duke of Cumberland’s birthday. However things didn’t go according to plan and the march through the night was slow going and they concluded there wasn’t enough time for the attack. The exhausted army marched back to camp in the middle of the night. They went into battle the next morning, exhausted, low on provisions, and starving. They were defeated quickly in that battle, estimated 2000 Jacobites were killed in the battle. The aftermath of the battle was almost more devastating, as the English Government wanted to make sure another uprising would never occur and they intended to stomp out Highland culture altogether.
A walk along the Battlefield was peaceful and sad as we stood in the place where thousands of Highlanders had lost their lives. Clan stones memorialized the Highland Clans that fought for the Bonnie Prince.
Culloden was by far one of our favorite stops of the day, and afterwards we headed to Loch Ness, where we kept our eyes peeled for the monster and visited the Loch Ness Monster Exhbit. To conclude: we believe, but we sadly did not see the monster that day, though I know she’s out there somewhere in the large loch. We also stopped at Urquhart Castle and explored the ruins of the ancient castle that sits upon Loch Ness.
We made it to our hostel outside of Fort William that evening. The hostel, Aite Cruinnichidh, was this pleasant barn-like building set out in the countryside near Roy Bridge and Fort William. It is run by a husband and wife team and they made it an extremely relaxed, peaceful, and home-y environment. Bunnies foraged around our cars and most of the occupants were planning on munro-bagging like we were in the morning. The following morning we were to climb “The Ben”, Beinn Nibheis, or Ben Nevis, is the tallest mountain in the UK at 1344 meters, or around 4400 feet tall. The climb up and down is about 17km and from what we had read was an eight hour climb on average. We tried to get to sleep early, as we were to awake at 5:30 AM to head off to the Ben.
The Climb: From 0 feet above sea level to 4400 feet.
We started at the Glen Nevis Visitor Center and crossed a rope bridge to the main Mountain Track. We began the climb at around 6:25 AM. The climb was incredibly steep, very little of the climb was ever leveled out. The first couple hours of the climb up was along a path that winded up the mountain and across streams pouring down the mountain. The path was made of large rocks that formed steps for us to continue upwards. The views were extensive, green hills and mountains, lochs and rivers all around us. It was one of the most beautiful hikes I’ve ever been on.
The last part of the climb was on craggy stones and sharp rocks; making it hard to see where the path was. My calves and thighs burned and ached, and we seemed to be moving at snail speed as we reached the summit plateau where the tall cairns marked the path, used for when the mountain is covered in snow and the path can’t be seen. There was a small amount of snowfall near the top, and the whole summit was in mist and fog. At three hours we reached the summit.
It was so cold at the top, around 0 degrees Celsius. Even in our layers, it was too cold to stay up at the top too long. The summit housed the ruins of an observatory that was built in 1883. We couldn’t see anything beyond the top due to fog so after a few pictures and celebrations, we started the long trip down the mountain as quickly as we could go, simply to keep ourselves warm.
Overall, we did the whole climb in about 5 hours and 30 minutes, when we had prepared for an 8 hour climb! But hey, we’re from California, and hiking mountains is what we do. It was unreal to have climbed Great Britain’s tallest mountain, something to brag about for years to come!
Entirely exhausted, we drove back to Glasgow Airport, where we stayed in a hotel and fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.
Our time in the Highlands had come to an end, but I had fallen in love in the short time we were there. There was still so much to see; I had wanted to drive up to the Isle of Skye but there just wasn’t enough time. But we’ll be back again, eager to explore more of the beautiful countryside. And I will get a picture of the adorable Highland Cows! I was able to see them, but never when I had my camera handy!
Next: Belfast, Northern Ireland!
The Highlands Have All of My Heart "The birthplace of Valour, the country of Worth; Wherever I wander, wherever I rove, the hills of the Highlands for ever I love."
“For that is the mark of the Scots of all classes: that he stands in an attitude towards the past unthinkable to Englishmen, and remembers and cherishes the memory of his forebears, good or bad; and there burns alive in him a sense of identity with the dead even to the twentieth generation.” – ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON
Bonnie Scotland! By far my favorite part of the trip! While planning the trip in the months prior, I knew that I would love Scotland; but I did not realize how it would take a hold of my heart and soul when I stepped into the Highlands. But I’m getting ahead of myself now, we first began our journey in Scotland in Glasgow.
The train from London to Glasgow was a beautiful train ride. It took about five hours to reach Glasgow, but it was such a pleasant ride, the time seemed to pass quickly. Green hills, farms and old buildings slipped past us as we hurtled northward through England. The size of the UK is roughly the size of California, the train ride was short compared to the long drives we frequently take from Southern California to Northern California. I admire the way the British value their countryside. They don’t see empty space as an opportunity to expand and enlarge like we do here in America. And because of this we got to admire the beautiful sprawling green hills all the way up.
We arrived in Glasgow Central station in the afternoon, just in time to check into our hostel, Euro Hostel Glasgow, that sat on the corner near the River Clyde. Glasgow is the largest city in Glasgow and immediately I could feel the young, hip and lively vibe of the city. We wandered around the “Golden Zed” shopping area on Buchanan Street and visited George’s Square. Alex had found it nearly impossible to understand the heavy Glaswegian accents and I frequently had to act as translator for him; like when he tried to order herbal tea at Cafe Nero and the barista thought he said caramel tea. When she asked him if he just wanted hot water with a couple pumps of caramel he had no idea what she was saying and only nodded his head “yes.” I quickly had to intervene and let her know that no, he did not want caramel tea, but herbal tea.
We woke up on our first morning in Glasgow to the sound of rain and thunder, typical Scottish weather. Perfect for our day spent in museums! We visisted the Glasgow Museum of Modern Art and the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum. The Kelvingrove Museum was this beautiful, reddish building, almost castle like, full of art and history. Some of my favorite artists (Monet, Cezanne, Matisse, and Picasso) had their artwork in here. Not only did we get to view beautiful art pieces but also Scottish history in this beautiful building!
Gallery of Modern Art and the Duke
Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum
anaconda skin
Scottish broadswords
extinct irish deer elk
archaeopteryx
We had Afternoon Tea at the Willow Tea Room on Buchanan Street. The Willow Tea Room was designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh, a famous Glaswegian artist, designer and architect. We ordered Afternoon Tea which came with a pot of our choice of tea and a 3 tiered stand of finger sandwiches, scone, shortbread and cake (all gluten free for me!). Having tea was a must in Britain, pinkies up!
Our last night in Glasgow, Alex was itching to leave. He’s never really been a fan of large cities. But I lay there on our hostel bed, the mattress so thin I could feel the bed springs, and listened to the hustle and bustle through the open window of the city sounds below. It was 10:00 PM and the sun had yet to set; the sound of the city wafted through the cracked window and I had to admit; I loved it – the city felt so alive.
Next up: The Scottish Highlands
People Make Glasgow "For that is the mark of the Scots of all classes: that he stands in an attitude towards the past unthinkable to Englishmen, and remembers and cherishes the memory of his forebears, good or bad; and there burns alive in him a sense of identity with the dead even to the twentieth generation." - ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON…
London, I Love you
London, I Love You
“One might fancy that day, the London day, was just beginning. Like a woman who had slipped off her print dress and white apron to array herself in blue and pearls, the day changed, put off stuff, took gauze, changed to evening, and with the same sigh of exhilaration that a woman breathes, tumbling petticoats on the floor, it too shed dust, heat, colour; the traffic thinned; motor cars, tinkling, darting, succeeded the lumber of vans; and here and there among the thick foliage of the squares an intense light hung. I resign, the evening seemed to say, as it paled and faded above the battlements and prominences, moulded, pointed, of hotel, flat, and block of shops, I fade, she was beginning. I disappear, but London would have none of it, and rushed her bayonets into the sky, pinioned her, constrained her to partnership in her revelry.”
VIRGINIA WOOLF, Mrs. Dalloway
https://wildchilddvm.wordpress.com/2016/07/30/london-i-love-you/
Been to Hell and Back
Been to Hell and Back
Yesterday I moved to Arizona, or hell, as I’m sure the temperature rivals that of the underlord’s world of fire. I only partially moved to Arizona because I had to move out here by myself, which you will soon see is a total disaster to ever move anywhere alone, so never do it. I could only take what fit into my Honda CRV and that I could carry by myself; the rest I left with my boyfriend, Alex…
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Turn and Face the Strange
Turn and Face the Strange
Today was my last day of work at the small animal clinic I work at in Rancho Cucamonga. I’ve never been good at saying goodbyes; I completely dread it and today was no exception. The crazy turn of events that have happened in this month of June have finally come to end on July 1st. Let me summarize: my roommate’s house “sold” and I had to scramble and apply for my apartment and quit work earlier…
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40 days until Europe 74 days until I start veterinary school !!!!!
Hey There Delilah
When people find out that I work in veterinary medicine and am on my way to becoming a veterinarian, they always make a comment along the lines of “I couldn’t be a vet, I wouldn’t be able to watch animals die.” There’s just something about animals that people have a strong emotional connection to. The same connection that causes us to sob uncontrollably when an animal dies in a movie, that causes…
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Fairy Pool, The Isle of Skye, Scotland
The Fairy Glen - Isle of Skye | Gavin Hardcastle - Fototrip
Old Man of Storr, Isle of Skye, Scotland [OC] [5036 × 2854] ✈
Can’t wait to visit the Isle of Skye in a few weeks!
A picture of a cactus during the sunset outside my aunt’s ranch
One Year With Sirius
One Year With Sirius One year ago today, I met my best friend behind bars... ...at the San Bernardino Animal Shelter.
Preventitive Medicine is the Best Medicine
Preventitive Medicine is the Best Medicine
It was a text book “This is why you need to spay/neuter your pet” kind of case. The dog could not even walk and she was only a 9 year old yellow lab; we had to carry her in on a stretcher. The smell from her ulcerated tumor permeated the building, it was that strong. I wasn’t sure where the tumor was, I couldn’t see it with the way she was laying on the stretcher but I heard the doctor say…
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