Eireann

Friday morning in Glasgow was cold, so after taking several pictures near the river Clyde we sought refuge in a mall until it was time to catch the bus for the airport. Our flight for Belfast was just before three, and lasted only about 25 minutes - shortest flight I've ever been on! We were to our hostel before five, and went to explore the city.

We went first by the Queen's University where the botanical gardens are located. The blooming flowers were absolutely gorgeous. We explored the city streets headed for the city centre spending the rest of the evening wandering about.

This morning we took the train to Dublin to meet my sister and so Stevie could have a chance to visit the Republic of Ireland. We only spent a few hours, but I felt like it was my turn to be tour guide since I remembered the layout of the streets from when I was there in February.

We got back into Belfast around 7, and since Stevie is flying to Nice early tomorrow morning we spent just a little longer looking around the city before returning to the hostel. I'm not flying back to Paris until tomorrow evening, so I still have one more day in Belfast before my break is effectively over - getting into Paris late and taking a train back to Montpellier Monday morning!

Oh ye'll take the high road...

We got up early this morning, headed out for a day of adventure. We took the train from Glasgow Queen Street, getting off at Balloch on the edge of Loch Lomond. We walked around the shore, just enjoying the beautiful scenery, the mist rolling in... The loch is huge so we only walked as far as Balloch castle and the gardens nearby. It was quite a relaxing walk around.

We stopped for lunch, where I tried some Scottish fish 'n' chips, fresh from the loch, I assume. It was absolutely delicious. Stevie had wanted to go up to Inverary as well, but due to the limited bus schedule and our not being able to find the stop we weren't able to make it, so we got back on the train to Glasgow. It was late afternoon so we wandered about the city for a while, just enjoying Scotland whilst we're here!

April in Paris

So despite sort of staying there back in January after Disney, this is really my first time seeing Paris; odd that I'd see so much of the rest of Europe before finally seeing the capital of the country I live in! We got in from Luxembourg in the early afternoon, our hostel being a short walk from the Gare de l'Est where our train arrived. I guess we didn't realize when we booked it, but this wasn't really the nicest part of Paris... This is definitely the worst hostel I've ever been in... It was dirty and creepy, but it was livable for the one night we were there.

After dropping off our bags we bought a metro pass and headed out to see the main sights: Notre Dame, L'Arc de Triomphe, the Eiffel Tower... The Louvre is sadly closed on Tuesdays but knowing us we probably wouldn't have paid to go in anyway. We saw the outside at least, which is quite impressive in itself.

In the evening we met up with Stevie's friend who was now living in Paris, she and her boyfriend showed us around near the Bastille and we ended up getting dinner and then sitting for a while in a café in true Parisien fashion. I got a few more nice pictures and we took the metro home, going to sleep later than usual.

We got up and headed for Charles de Gaulle airport, and arrived quite early for out flight to Glasgow. It was nice to relax though, and now that we're in Scotland we're trying to figure out what the rest of our trip holds... Hard to believe we have only a few days left!

Alba

I've never been one to let a little thing like a head cold get in the way of me having a good time, so despite my stuffed nose and sore throat I headed off Friday afternoon for my weekend in Scotland. It wasn't as if I could reschedule or refund it anyway, and even though my sister decided not to join me as originally planned, I was determined to have a good time.

And I can honestly say that I did. I flew from Montpellier to Gatwick (fourth time in eight weeks! If only easyjet had a frequent flyer programme...), waited two hours, then caught a flight to Edinburgh, arriving just after 8. I took the bus into city centre and walked to my hostel, only a few blocks from the bus stop, and just off Prince's Street, one of the main thoroughfares of Edinburgh. Since it was late and as I mentioned I wasn't feeling well, I just took a short walk to get some dinner and then called it an early night.

I got up around 7 Saturday morning, with the intention of using every last second of daylight to see the city. I first walked down Prince's street to grab some breakfast, then I headed towards my farthest destination: the Royal Botanical Gardens of Edinburgh. The first and only time prior to this I was in Scotland in May of 2002, my mom and I spent quite a while there, but the only things I remembered about it was that it was a really long walk to get there and that their café had excellent carrot soup. The walk wasn't nearly as long as I remembered, probably because I'm more accustomed to walking places now. I got there before it opened, so I walked back the way I'd come to have a cup of coffee before going back when it opened. I spent well over an hour there, admiring the scenery and taking plenty of pictures of flowers. I did make it back to the café, and while they didn't have any carrot soup, I tried their minestrone, which was quite good as well. The bread they served it with was what sold it for me.

I walked back into city centre afterwards, stopping to buy some fruit and dropping it off at the hostel. From there I decided to head toward Edinburgh Castle, passing many monuments along the way, and taking pictures of the fascinating buildings. The castle being on the top of a hill, there were breathtaking views of the city around me. I could see the mountains, the firth, and all of the buildings of the city. Nearby there was a tartan mill and museum, so I took a quick look around there, finally finding what the Fettes (Fiddes in old Scottish) family tartan looked like - this is my mom's mom's family name, the only Scottish I can definitely link myself to. Unfortunately since it's a family and not a clan, there really aren't any scarves or whatnot with the tartan available - I would've had to order them. Well, at least now I know a little more of the family story.

I kept walking from the castle down the royal mile, getting as far as the parliament building and taking pictures all along the way. I turned back and stopped at a pub for dinner; steak and mince pie. It was quite good, and I stayed a little while watching the six nations rugby matches: the end of England v. Scotland (England won) and the beginning of Ireland v. Wales. I find rugby a bit confusing, but still interesting.

I headed back toward the Princes street gardens, and got a few good shots of the castle from below. I pretty much just walked around the city centre until the sun set, then ended up calling it an early night, getting all my things together since I had to wake up early Sunday morning to get back to the airport.

As per the usual, today was just travel, travel, switching planes in London and getting back in the late afternoon. I was useful in my own way; helping some British travellers from my flight find their way into Montpellier (they were all getting off a few stops before me on the same tram line), always nice to feel useful.

...I miss Scotland already.