Its a Wee Bit Cold

The train ride form London to Edinburgh, Scotland seemed to take forever.  Dustin and I went through almost the entire English island and arrived in New Castle to change trains.  There is nothing special about this town except when we were crossing over the river and into the train station, a massive rainbow arched over the entire city to greet us.  The train from New Castle to Carlisle was only an hour long but felt so much longer.  We cut through the country side and followed the Hadrian's Wall line, the wall the Romans built to keep the native Scots away from them.  From Carlisle we hopped on another train and a few hours later, we finally arrived in Edinburgh.

Dustin and I immediately went to the hostel to unload our gear and relax.  After a little relaxation time, we headed onto the Royal Mile or High Street to find a pub to get dinner.  We arrived at the Mitre Pub just a block away from the Hostel.  I was surprised by the gourmet meal I had in the pub.  One would think bar food would be fried and dripping with grease but the risotto I had was similar to what I ate at Sands the night before.  The pear cider I had helped round out the meal.  After dinner we walked around a bit then headed back to the hostel.

Keeping with tradition, Dustin and I awoke early and headed for the train station to catch the train to St. Andrews.  The town of St. Andrews is more well known for being where golf was invented but people often overlook the other history that is there.  We decided to skip the golf and go straight for the castle that overlooks the bay.  There isn't much left other than some ruins and a mine shaft that you can go into.  After exploring the ruins for a little bit, Dustin and I walked over to the St. Andrews Cathedral.

The cemetery is full of old and new headstones and there are ruins of the main part of the cathedral are still standing.  We climbed the tower that gives a view of the entire city and then left the cemetery and walked out onto a pier that juts into the bay.  There wasn't much to see out there but it was a nice walk.

We walked back into town and got some lunch then headed back to Edinburgh.  We relaxed at the hostel for a bit then went walking around and got some dinner.  We went to bed early because we had a long day ahead of us on Tuesday.

Tuesday morning we had to be at the Rabbie's Trailblazers office at 8am for our tour bus.  We joined a tour that drives all throughout the Highlands and up to the southern tip of Loch Ness.  We stopped about an hour outside of Edinburgh to get some coffee and as soon as I got out of the van it started to snow.  This trend continued for the rest of the trip.  Every stop it would begin to snow a little bit.  At a few stops we saw people just walking through the country side.  Our guide, Eddy, said that since Scotland has no trespassing laws people walk all over for fun.  When we got closer to Loch Ness we went through a blizzard.  Loch Ness was not the most scenic place ever but it was still beautiful.  I think the best thing about the trip was all the small stops we made on the way to St. Augusta and on the way back.  We say mountains, snow, deer, and many Lochs.  Unfortunately, Nessie didn't grace us with her presence.  On the way back we drove through a large blizzard that finally let up when we got to the first National Park in Scotland.  Here, we walked up to a scenic overlook over a waterfall and attempted to find gold in the river but it was way too dark to see any.  The van finally arrived in Edinburgh after a long day of traveling through most of the island.

Wednesday morning, we walked up to Edinburgh castle to see where the royal families of Scotland had lived.  It was closed when we got up there so we went to the Haggis Cafe to get some breakfast.  Dustin decided to try haggis, which I think he regretted.  It looked like burned sausage and judging by the look on his face, tasted worse.  After breakfast we went back up to the castle and explored the many rooms.  The castle is full of history and ghost stories.  They have a cannon called Mons Meg that at one point was the largest cannon ever made.  We spent a few hours walking around the castle and then headed down the Royal Mile toward the Scottish Whiskey Experience.

Here, we learned about the process behind making whiskey and the difference between blended and malt whiskeys and the difference between Scottish whiskey and other whiskeys.  We did a tasting of a blended and a malt whiskey and then learned about the history of whiskey.  The tasting and process was interesting but the history was similar to a little kids carnival ride and was a terrible end to the experience.

Dustin and I walked further down the Royal Mile, all the way to the end, to Holyrood Palace.  This is where the Queen stays when she comes to visit.  We walked around the palace and throughout the garden then headed to the hostel to grab our bags and head to the airport.  Our flight for Ireland left around 8:30 p.m.  Scotland was such an amazing place and I hope to come back soon.

Scotland

London

Dustin and I arrived in London Friday morning and spent a few hours running around the tubes to get tickets for our trip to Scotland and for Wicked.  We finally arrived to Sands at Bleak House, a restaurant with a few guest bedrooms above it.  The restaurant is located just outside of Woking which is a 30 minute train ride from London.  Dustin's friend owns the restaurant and allowed us to stay here Friday and Saturday nights for free.  The rooms are nicer than any other place I have ever stayed and have a coastal feel that takes you out of the country-side surroundings.  Friday we went to Tracy's, Dustin's friend, house and she , her husband, James, and their oldest daughter, Jasmine, took us for a walk around the Thames river.  James then took Dustin, Jasmine, and me to the Woking train station where we departed for the city to go see Wicked.  The show was breathtaking.  It cost 48 pounds for each of us which is a really good deal for the seats we had.  After the show we headed back and prepared for the next day.

On Saturday we went into London early and explored a large chunk of the city.  We did the London Eye which gives you a view of the entire city, walked by Parliament and Buckingham Palace, went to the original Hard Rock Cafe, went to Notting Hill Gate and say the Portobello Road outdoor market, and then went and did the London Dungeon tour.  After that we walked around a bit more and took some pictures then set out to find food.  We walked toward the National Gallery and found The Texas Embassy.  It is a large restaurant covered with Texas memorabilia and smells like fajitas.  We did not eat here however.  We decided to go back to sands and eat in the restaurant there.  The food was exquisite.  Pumpkin and rosemary soup, sweet potato and red onion risotto, and some camomile tea made the perfect meal.  After that, I went to sleep because Sunday is going to be a long day.

Our train leaves in a few hours for Edinburgh, Scotland.  We are going to stay there until Wednesday.  While there we plan to go to St. Andrews and hopefully a few castles.  I will have some London pictures up as soon as I have internet again.

Perugia Chocolate Festival

London

Fall Break

My roommate, Dustin, and I are headed to the UK.  I will post along the way as long as I can get internet and also I will post some photos from the Eurochocolate Festival that I went to last weekend in Perugia.  It was kind of disappointing but I got a few good photos.  Farewell.

Switzerland

     Over the weekend I went to Interlaken, Switzerland.  My original intention to go there was to skydive.  That only took 4 hours on Friday.  It was incredible.  We flew over the mountains for 20 minutes then it was time to bail.  My instructor, Dave, decided we were going to do a backflip out of the airplane.   We scooted toward the edge and I hung my feet out of the plane.  With one quick movement we were out the door and facing toward the plane.  We spun back around and Dave pulled the stabilization chute to keep us falling flat.  The view was immaculate.  I was so high up that I was looking down on some of the mountains.  The wind in my face felt as if I was sticking my head out a car window going 120 mph.  After almost a minute of free falling, Dave opened the parachute and we began our "slow" decent to the field where the plane originally took off.  We fell for about seven minutes, then Dave told me to prepare for landing.  I lifted my legs straight out and we hit the grass and slid on our asses for a couple of feet.  The rest of the group welcomed us back to Earth. 

     When I returned to Interlaken I rented a bike and rode around town for about an hour.  Riding through the downtown area, I noticed that in the afternoons the playgrounds are packed with children and every bench in the park is filled with people talking.  I have not seen this in the U.S.  The people here seem to be much more active than any of the towns I have been in.  All through out the day children can be seen playing in their yards.  I returned to the hostel and then went to get some amazing thai food at the restaurant next door.

     Saturday morning I woke up early and went for a walk around town.  There was a heavy fog that loomed over head.  I headed back to the hostel, grabbed my camera bag, and headed for the train station.  My destination was a small mountain town called Mürren.  The train stopped in Lauterbrunnen, where I got on the air tram that hung high about the trees as it took me to Grütschalp.  From there I took a small train up to Mürren.  The town was amazing.  No vehicles are allowed in this town except for work purposes.  I don't even know how they got vehicles up here as there were no roads that I could see.  I walked around the small town for a few hours and took pictures of almost everything.  Behind the Hotel Jungfrau is where the first ever slalom ski course was.  The south side of Mürren overlooked the valley and the mountains on the other side.  I wish I could wake up every morning to that.  I stopped at a restaurant for lunch and ate on the terrace that faced the valley.  I had a really rich german dumplings dish.  After lunch I started walking down the road toward Gimmelwald, an even smaller town that I would be surprised if there were more than 60 people living there.  The walk there was all down hill and very relaxing.  When I got to Gimmelwald, I walked around a little bit, then took the air tram back up to Mürren.  I would have walked up but Vans were a bad choice for footwear.  I arrived in Mürren and made my way back to Lauterbrunnen.  In Lauterbrunnen I walked to the water falls and through the town.  After about an hour I headed back to Interlaken to relax.

     I met some students studying in Straussberg, France and they invited me to go to dinner with them.  We went and got thai food then headed back to the hostel to eat.  I spent the rest of the evening chatting with them and going to the night club that was in the basement of the hostel.  Around 3:30am we decided to ll go to sleep and meet for breakfast in the morning.

     We met around 8 and had a free breakfast at the hostel.  They were going to go paragliding and asked me to come along.  We walked to the booking place and found out that there were two spots left for the noon trip and a lot of openings for the 3pm trip.  I had to catch a train in Spiez at 2pm to make it back to Florence so I went at noon and they did the other one.  It was still early and we got a free hour for a moped with our rental.  We grabbed our scooters and began to try and figure out how they work.  I picked it up instantly.  The girls were having trouble so Peter, the only guy in their group, stayed to help them out and I went riding around town with one of the girls.  Rebecca and I went across the river and toward one of the lakes.  We stopped and walked to the edge of the water to look around and then went riding through the downtown district.  I dropped her off, said goodbye to my new friends, topped off the scooter with petrol and then headed to grab my bags before I was picked up.

     The van picked me up then we headed to the paragliding place to get everything together.  I left my bags there because as soon as I landed I had to run to the train station.  We took a 30 minute van ride up a mountain to the launch area and prepared for departure.  My pilot, Welten, and I started running down the steep hill and then the parachute lifted us up.  We flew for about 20 minutes and Welten let me control the glider for a little bit.  Below, I could see the glacier fed lakes and the town of Interlaken.  Welten took the controls and we did a few aerial tricks before landing in the park in the middle of town.  I got my gear, thanked Welten, and then hauled ass to the train station.  I arrived just in time to make the train to Spiez and then on to Florence.

     Interlaken was like no other place I had been.  I would love to live there.  Hopefully I can return soon to this magical place.

Switzerland

Skydiving

Paragliding

Giving a Shot at Songwriting

My friend/neighbor Jon reminded me of a story I think I should share.  He and I were bored on a rainy Friday morning a few weeks ago and decided to write a song.  He is an excellent guitar player so he came up with a little tune and we went from there.  We wrote about our terrace.  Everyone in the apartment used to gather on the terrace but since it has been cooler at night that has stopped.  Anyway, our song became a hit among the residence and now when he starts playing the tune you can guarantee there will be someone that will start singing it.  I would share the lyrics but they are not exactly appropriate but I will share them when I get home if anyone is interested.  Hopefully we will have more songs to come.

A Random Assortment of Adventures

This past weekend there was a German festival in Piazza di Santa Croce. I went there Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights with friends and we just walked around and had some delicious food.  There were stands from Germany, Austria, Czech Republic, France, and various Scandinavian countries.  One stand was making fresh macaroons and there were several that had these suspended grills covered with all different types of sausage and other meats.  It was the same thing every night but each time was just as fun as the previous.

German Festival Pictures

On Friday Julia, Chris, Emily, and I went to go hiking in a mountain town called Abetone. When we got off the bus in Pistoia to change buses we realized that we would not have enough time to go so instead we hopped on a train to a small town call Pescia.  The weather was crappy and it rained on us almost the entire time we were there.  It was light rain until we hiked to the top of this hill to check out a church then the sky let loose on us and we became soaked.  However the rain did not stop me from taking pictures.  The town is beautiful and set right in the Tuscan hills.  We spent a few hours walking around and ate some lunch at a small cafe in the city center.  After walking throughout the town, we decided that it was time to go since we were soaking wet and cold.

Pescia Pictures

On Saturday Dustin (my roommate), JB and a different Emily and I all went to Lucca for the afternoon.  We got there too late in the day to really do anything but it was nice to get out of the city.  We walked around looking for a bike rental place but when we finally found it we didnt have enough time to rent them so we walked on the wall that surrounds the city and got to see an amazing sunset.

Lucca Pictures

Sunday was a lazy day.  We just hung out in the apartment then around sunset Jon, Emily, and I went to Ponte a S. Trinita, a bridge just to the west of Ponte Vecchio.  From there we sat on these outcroppings that stick off the bridge and look towards the Ponte Vecchio.  After that we just went home and cooked dinner.

Bridge Pictures

On Monday my Italian class met at my teacher's apartment and she and her mom taught us how to make pasta and sauce from scratch and how to make schacciata d'uva, which is kind of like a grape cake.  We ate lunch and had a lot of fun.  I dont think I will have a learning experience that will top that.  My teacher's mom only speaks Italian so I had to try to understand her when she was instructing me on how to make the cake.

Tomorrow I leave for Interlaken, Switzerland.  It is the outdoor adventure capital of Europe and I plan on skydiving and maybe some other activities.