Scotland

Running on no sleep (which is what I did the night before we left America, hence the terrible tiredness in my eyes you can see in the first picture), was not a smart decision. I slept for most of the flight over to Edinburgh, after making friends with Caroline, who was travelling with her husband David to visit family in Scotland. When they found out we had no place to stay that night, they helped us look around Edinburgh, but to no avail. We decided to look around Inverkeithing later that day where the Highland games would be.

The girls wanted to take a bus tour of the city, but considering that I would probably fall asleep and miss everything, I chose to stay at a park and lounge. Which was really fun, and I had the opportunity to get my butt kicked in some soccer scrimmage for a bit. When I thought the girls’ bus had come back, I went and yelled up at Emily, who didn’t even look down! I tried yelling a little louder, and louder…when I realized that the person was, in fact, not Emily. Oops.

http://picasaweb.google.com/hoopes.72/Edinburgh?feat=directlink

http://picasaweb.google.com/hoopes.72/Edinburgh02?feat=directlink

http://picasaweb.google.com/hoopes.72/Edinburgh03?feat=directlink

We then rode to Inverkeithing, and tried to find a place to sleep (story of our lives). After a while we finally found a nice little hotel that actually had enough room for all four of us! Everywhere else was full because of the games. After we dumped our stuff we headed over to real, Scottish HIGHLAND GAMES!! Wahoo! We came just in time to see some of the cabur tossing and heavy weight throwing, festive dancing and bagpipe bands. What a treat!

We even took a picture with a legitimate Scotsman, and tried curry fries, which are delicious.

We left as everything started winding down, but they announced that the pipe bands’ competition would be a half hour later so I went back to see it, and I’m sure glad I did! Some of the bands are actually high school bands-can you imagine a school here dressing up in kilts and playing bagpipes for halftime?! They each took a turn playing on the field “Scotland the Brave,” which you can listen to here. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eF5pEsJQlxI

After the bands each marched off the field they proceeded to play and march all through the streets of Inverkeithing, stopping at some carnival grounds for their last songs. Before that day I had never really thought of bagpipes as the most appealing sound, but since then I have fallen in love with them. I posted a video of another song down there that’s also verrry good! That band is called the “Beauly Firth and Glens Pipeband,” which was founded by the drummer in the middle. I asked his daughter, Kirstie Nicholson, to autograph my journal. She is the girl on the left.

From Inverkeithing

http://picasaweb.google.com/hoopes.72/Inverkeithing02?feat=directlink

http://picasaweb.google.com/hoopes.72/Inverkeithing?feat=directlink

http://picasaweb.google.com/hoopes.72/HighlandGames?feat=directlink

The next morning we left for Edinburgh to attend church.On the train ride there, we made two new friends, James and his older brother Alexander.

 Hearing prayers and talks given in Scottish accents was AWESOME! Thanks to some mistaken directions from a well-intentioned sister in the church, we ended up taking an extremely long detour back to the train station. So with backpacks and skirts we walked about 6 miles that morning. We were alright with it though, because we got to see the city a little more than we would have otherwise.

Namely, a really beautiful boy.

We saw talented street performers, some more talented than others.

In the end we did make it back to the train station, ready to depart for…ENGLAND!!

http://picasaweb.google.com/hoopes.72/Edinburgh2?feat=directlink

Ireland

If you haven’t heard much about the following experiences, buckle up. August and September of 2009 were the best two months anyone could’ve asked for, at least in my opinion. Along with Christie Carter, Emily Olson, and Leticia Gomez, I embarked on an adventure that was better and wilder than my craziest dreams.

It all started August 3rd (after a whole summer of working, planning, and anticipation), as we waited in the Salt Lake City airport for three seats to become available for Dublin. Thanks to a family friend, Colin, us three (Emily, Christie, myself) were privileged to fly first class for $400.00 round trip. The catch was that the flight had to have enough empty seats for us. We hadn’t made it onto our first flight of choice, but had one more hour until another. The odds were playing quite strongly against us, but two minutes before the gate was to be closed, we were ushered on quickly. Colin later informed us that a family of three had showed up just after they closed the door to the plane. Heavenly Father must’ve really wanted us to get to Dublin!

*I will be posting URLs to the online album after each event if you wish to see ALL pictures, raw and unedited; and even some rare video footage. (Emily’s and Christie’s included-still waiting for Leticia’s!)

http://picasaweb.google.com/hoopes.72/FirstClass?feat=directlink

After striking a great deal at the airport tourist center for a hostel in Dublin’s city centre, we caught the bus and arrived at “The Avalon House,” our first and most charming place to stay. Steve, the cute receptionist, explained with a chuckle that “brollie” is Irish slang for umbrella.

We decided to explore Dublin, coming across a statue of Molly Malone!

We found a stand selling Claddagh rings, the traditional Irish wedding ring. Now, they are worn casually and can represent friendship and loyalty as well. *Quick historical note: I learned in Galway (Ireland) that a man named Richard Joyce was kidnapped by pirates, only to become a master goldsmith through apprenticeship! He invented the Claddagh rings and they’ve been a tradition ever since.

Afterwards, we decided to look around Trinity College, which came to be in 1592. The girls decided to go through the Book of Kells, which I’d never heard of and thus, opted out. I didn’t feel like paying 8 euros for it. The ticket-taker watched me waiting around for them, and when I asked how much it cost to look around the college library, he told me to just go in and find my friends, for free! I ran in before he could change his mind and, boy oh boy, was I in for a treat. The Book of Kells exhibit was neat, but the Long Room was incredible. Comparable to the Beauty and the Beast library, words cannot describe the strong spirit and energy of that room. Thousands of years old, shelves were lined with too many books to even fathom and I was smitten. That’s all I got to say about that.

Later that night, we met up with Leticia, (Emily taught her while serving a mission in Portugal) who had flown from her current home on Guernsey Island, England.

http://picasaweb.google.com/hoopes.72/Dublin?feat=directlink

http://picasaweb.google.com/hoopes.72/Dublin02?feat=directlink

http://picasaweb.google.com/hoopes.72/Dublin03?feat=directlink

Early the next morning, we rented a car, er, let a car (more Irish vocab) from Enterprise and made a friend named Eoin-pronounced “Owen”-who rented the car to us. Would that be “letted” the car to us? I don’t know. Anywho, we drove to Galway and the first sight we came upon was this girl playing Uillean pipes (pronounced “eelin”)!

http://picasaweb.google.com/hoopes.72/Galway?feat=directlink

http://picasaweb.google.com/hoopes.72/GalwayAndDrivingToCliffs?feat=directlink

http://picasaweb.google.com/hoopes.72/Galway02?feat=directlink

From there we headed to the Cliffs of Moher, which are real beauties. I learned there that God is an artist. A really good artist, and He makes beautiful things like that for you and me because He loves us very much.

http://picasaweb.google.com/hoopes.72/DrivingAndCliffsOfMoher?feat=directlink

http://picasaweb.google.com/hoopes.72/CliffsOfMoher?feat=directlink

http://picasaweb.google.com/hoopes.72/CliffsOfMoher02?feat=directlink

After the cliffs we began a long drive to a small city called Tralee, and we didn’t get there until prettttty late. Fortunately for us, we were being watched over and were blessed to have the hostel owner waiting up until 1 A.M. for us to arrive!

The next morning we set out to explore the town, and decided to try and find an LDS church building. This involved asking many people who mostly didn’t know what we were talking about, until we came across Tom, a man who threatened to kill us if we didn’t follow his directions. He wasn’t serious. At least I think he wasn’t.

When the building Tom directed us to was actually a restaurant and not a church, we kept walking and stopped a young man on the street named Sinclair Dowey Kingston. He had once played basketball with some missionaries but could not remember where church was held. He came along for the adventure anyway, telling us about the life of a typical Irish teenager, and slowly melting my heart with his accent and charm. After Sinclair had to go home (to tend his siblings, cute huh!), we eventually found our church.

http://picasaweb.google.com/hoopes.72/Tralee?feat=directlink

http://picasaweb.google.com/hoopes.72/Tralee02?feat=directlink

http://picasaweb.google.com/hoopes.72/Tralee03?feat=directlink

We left that afternoon for the Dingle Peninsula, whose waters were SO cold, which is exactly why I bought an ice cream cone. We also enhanced our ninja skills while there. After the Peninsula, we drove to Cork. As much as was possible, we listened to the Gaelic radio station in the car. If you’re into folk music, you’d love it. Check out a good example at www.myspace.com/danuband.

http://picasaweb.google.com/hoopes.72/DrivingAndDinglePeninsula?feat=directlink

http://picasaweb.google.com/hoopes.72/DinglePeninsulaAndDrivingToCork?feat=directlink

http://picasaweb.google.com/hoopes.72/DinglePeninsula?feat=directlink

http://picasaweb.google.com/hoopes.72/ConnerPass?feat=directlink

We got to Cork, with plans to stay at Sheila’s Hostel. This experience included our first time sleeping in a mixed-gender dorm…weird! The next morning we left for Blarney Castle so we could all obtain the gift of eloquence by kissing the stone. That stone was disgusting and I wanted to be sanitized after touching it. At least you can see all the eloquence I got in my writing here. After kissing the stone, we explored the castle grounds, which are luscious, green, and very charming. I wanted to live there.

From Blarney Castle and Driving

http://picasaweb.google.com/hoopes.72/BlarneyCastleAndDriving?feat=directlink

http://picasaweb.google.com/hoopes.72/BlarneyAndDrivingToCashel?feat=directlink

http://picasaweb.google.com/hoopes.72/BlarneyCastle?feat=directlink

After Blarney came the Rock of Cashel, another Irish castle surrounded by rolling green hills, tourists, and flowers. After diddle-daddling for a bit, we drove back to Dublin, where we would return the car and catch a Ryanair flight to Edinburgh (which we found for $12), Scotland. By the time we had found the rental return, it was far too late to find a place to sleep. So we just went in the airport, ate some dinner, and tried to squeeze in a couple hours.

http://picasaweb.google.com/hoopes.72/RockOfCashel02?feat=directlink

http://picasaweb.google.com/hoopes.72/RockOfCashel?feat=directlink

http://picasaweb.google.com/hoopes.72/TheRockOfCashel?feat=directlink

That plan didn’t work too well for Christie and me, so we washed her hair in the sink as Emily and Leticia slept for a few. The Ryanair website had specific carry-on rules which are apparently enforced, so we feared for our bags. Thus, we all ended up putting on every piece of clothing we had brought with us, appearing to have gained thirty or more pounds in 10 minutes. As we got to the boarding gate, however, we learned that no one cared if our bag was too heavy or big, so we stripped everything we could in the middle of the terminal. Thus ended our lovely time in Ireland, but only so more adventures could come.

http://picasaweb.google.com/hoopes.72/SleepingOverAtDublinAirport?feat=directlink