Pictures of Scotland - finally!

I don't have my daily journal with me at the moment, so I can't give details of my trip in Scotland per the usual. However, I do have a lot of great pictures which pretty much speak for themselves. I am going to put up a selection and hopefully later I can fill in with some details of the tour!

At Glencoe- the site of the infamous massacre of the Macdonald clan by the Campbells! Scots still hate the Campbells today...


This is by Ben Nevis, famous as the highest mountain in Scotland as well as the British Isles.


At Loch Ness! We stayed in a hostel right by the loch. Unfortunately, no Nessy-sightings by me.



This guy is what is known as a "hairy coo" which is a type of cattle they raise in the Highlands. Look at that hair-do! I can't even see his eyes, can you?!


Some scenery by Glencoe; it was really pretty around there


A loch that looks like Scotland!
My tour group! We had a really tiny group, compared to normal ones; everyone was very nice!


Castle Eilean Donan, the most photographed castle in the country! We stopped here on our way to Skye. We had some great weather this day as well!

:: Isle of Skye ::

Cliffs that look like kilts...

Posing on top of the world!

We visited the ruin of a cathedral on the last day of the trip. This section was made into a graveyard. It was a very pretty location and we had some more great weather!

If you turn completely around from the picture above, you would see this river. We had the opportunity to sunbathe/ catnap before returning to Edinburgh.

Eurotrip: Amsterdam Mayhem

Day 11 - You Pronounce it "Aahm-staah-daahm" (when you sing it in Dutch, anyway)

Partly to make up for spending half a day on the train the day before, Sarah and I got up early (7:30!) and rented bikes! Clearly I had a great time last time I got to ride around a city on a bike (Munich, anyone?) so I was very excited to get back on a bike in a new city, especially one that was bike-friendly. The friendly bike renter guy gave us a map and showed us where nice places to ride were, then Sarah and I jumped on our sweet red bikes and headed out. Sarah wanted to see the Red Light district (me, not so much) so we decided to go there first thing while it was still daylight and not as sketchy.

So our first stop of the day was the inner, inner circle of the rings of canals. We stopped at a bridge and managed to find a spot to lock up our rides (which took about 8 minutes- we had a wheel lock and chain with a key for security) then- we walked into Chinatown. The next street over was the actual Red Light district and it looked innocent enough. We came across a movie being filmed, so we stopped for a look, along with a small crowd. It involved a few girls in a few windows and a guy on a tractor. I have no idea what the movie was about, but they rehearsed the tractor man pulling up to this shop and the guy getting off about 12 times... and by then I was bored.

So, down the street we continued, passing by tulip bulb stands, marijuana stores and every type of x-rated shop you can think of. Since it was still early, there weren't too many women in the windows... but there were a few. The experience of this one street was distressing and I was very glad to get back to my bike and ride away from there.

Since I had the map, I was the leader all day. However, we just rode around, taking pictures of statues whenever we saw them and mostly just petaled around in no particular direction and no destination in mind. Sarah had heard of the Heineken Experience and wanted to go there, but it wasn't on my maps and we didn't know where it was. I told her (since I didn't really want to go, thinking it would be like Anheuser-Busch 5 minutes away from my house) that we would go-- if we found it (again, thinking it was totally unlikely in the huge city). For some reason, I only had one spare battery in my backpack and of course, my camera's battery light when on. So, a little before lunch time, we decided to stop by at the hostel so I could get fresh batteries. We petaled over a bridge and suddenly right in front of us was-- you guessed it-- the Heineken brewery!

And what luck- I am glad we made our little bargain and found the brewery when we did, because it was awesome! It was nothing like the brewery by my house (which I've been to millions of times) including the price (free at home- and €11 for an Experience). We made sure to get our 11 euros worth out of it, so we took a few hours and did the self-guided tour right, reading every label and watching practically every video available. We got a few tokens for beer and a free gift (a bottle opener, how apt!) and my favorite part was the video email we sent of the both of us lip-syncing in front of a green screen to some traditional Dutch tune! It was hilarious, and unfortunately, I only got to see it once before it got deleted, otherwise I would put it right here!

We passed the rest of the day wandering around looking for things: a place to eat, an ice cream place that we had a coupon for, and eventually the "I amsterdam" sign. Here's what it is:

We rode thru a few parks and just enjoyed the scenery for a while then decided to head back to the hostel for the night. We stopped at a shop and had a cup of tea to warm us up and there, Sarah bought some legal "plant matter" for about €2.50. After dropping our bikes at the hostel and adding a few layers for warmth, we found a nearby and tiny park and Sarah lit up! We hung out for a few hours (me eating candy the whole time) then headed to bed.

Check out the funky statue in our park!

Eurotrip: Salzburg & the Sound of Music

Day 8 - The Hills are Alive...!

The Sound of Music-- a pretty classic movie I would say-- did you know that Austrians don't really even know what it is? Yeah, apparently "sound of music" doesn't translate into German or something, so they have another version of the story. But without all the catchy tunes, unfortunately for them! However, thankfully for me and my fellow English speakers, we have the great movie AND a tour that goes with it! For about 30 euros, we did the touristy thing and hopped on a brightly painted bus and saw a bunch of locations they used for the movie (and of course learned about Maria's story on the way).

After breakfast, we watched the movie (the hostel played it everyday on the wide screen tv) and I enjoyed it- it was a lot better than I remembered! We had plenty of time to get over to the plaza where the tour left from and conveniently, there was even a lady right there selling a variety of pretzels for lunch! We ate our pizza pretzels outside then decided we should get on the bus at some point and try for a good seat. Then, we were on our way!

The first stop was the lake where scenes at the back of the house were filmed, including when Maria and Capt. Von Trapp dance, where Maria and the kids all fall into the lake and where the kids all hung off the trees, picking fruit (or something like that). We didn't spend that much time there, just long enough to take some crazy pictures then it was back on the bus!

Salzburg was set up kind of interestingly from the other side of the castle- it was pretty much flatness and fields. (I guess the city was pretty flat too, but there were no buildings or trees on the side we were on). Anyway, we drove by the "front" of the house location (where Maria sings "I have confidence" and where the family tries to sneak out with the car at the end) which was pretty much in the middle of a field and not really near the lake either. We also saw the Abbey, which is on top of the big hill with the castle- interesting fact- none of the movie was filmed inside the Abbey only the scenes at the gate were the actual building!

Next stop was the gazebo- "I am 16 going on 17"- yep, where Liesl and Rolfe danced a little and sang a bit. However... it was locked shut because a few years ago, an 86 year old lady was pretending to be Liesl, slipped off the bench (or just missed it) and ended up with a broken hip!

We left Salzburg at this point and took a nice drive into the mountains and ended up at my *gold star location* of probably all of Europe: a summer toboggan run! At first I decided I didn't want to pay for it. I sat for about 5 minutes, then eventually changed my mind (1- I am in Europe. 2- I have done winter tobogganing, but not summer. 3- it's not even €4 4- it looks like a ton of fun) and Sarah and I were all in. She gave her camera to our tour guide, and I kept mine then we hooked up the toboggan, took a seat and got pulled to the top!

The view:


We decided that to do this thing right, we had to go full speed the entire way down. I volunteered to be the driver, so I got to be in the front. I tried to be as slow as I could so there would be lots of space between us and the lady in front of us (who was telling her kids that she would be slow, so she would be behind them). We clambered on... and then we were off! Little less than halfway down, we had to screech to a halt because Slow Lady and her 3 kids were stopped for some unknown reason (I guessed that someone fell off, so everyone stopped so they wouldn't run him over). Fortunately, no one was right behind us, so after they all started to go again I had some time to let them get a good head start. Then, as some grandparents came around the corner behind us, I let'er rip and didn't brake until we were in danger of crashing into the end of the course!


I think people could hear us down at the bottom of the mountain- we were yelling and hooting the whole way down and just having a good time! It was so much fun- I would recommend this tour, even a trip to the city of Salzburg to take this tour so you can toboggan. Seriously! After that amazing-ness, we piled back on the bus, took a quick stop at a really beautiful spot that overlooked a town called St. Gilgen and a lake, Lake Wolfgang, then drove to the pretty town of Modsee.


Modsee was another film location, this time used for the wedding scene of Maria and the Captain. (Obviously, it wasn't filmed in the Abbey, since no filming was allowed there.) The cathedral was nice. It was yellow (unusual!) but it fit in with the other buildings around the town, which were brightly painted. We had about 45 minutes to wander around, so I took some pictures and Sarah got apple strudel then it was back on the bus and back to Salzburg!

Once we were back in town, we wandered around for a LONG time looking for the beergarden our tour guide recommended. We got some help and finally found the place. I was very excited to finally have some real, traditional Bavarian food! We ate outside next to a live band. It was really great! After dinner, Sarah and I took a stroll along the river and enjoyed the nice weather. This was pretty much a great day. The tour was super (it was enhanced by the fact we had seen it immediately before taking the tour AND they played the soundtrack during the drive), the weather was amazing, and the scenery was gorgeous. (It actually reminded me a lot of NH- except the Alps made it much more dramatic than home.)