Castles...we love Castles! Monday, June 21

Pics: Drum Castle, Steps to Tower, Cragievar Castle, Burn O' Vat waterfall, Burn O' Vat cove

Mary Beth was brave today and was willing to drive me all over the countryside to look at castles. We dropped Steve off at Scotland Agricultural College(where he works) in Aberdeen, Scotland.

The first castle we saw was Drum Castle. We took the tour and it was pretty in a typical Victorian style like most of the castles that have been restored. The highlights actually came after the tour when we were able to see the neat little chapel behind the castle and had the opportunity to climb up to the top of the tower. The top was my favorite and was very worth the scary little circular stairway.

The second castle was Craigievar Castle which we only stopped and took picture of the outside. It was way pretty and pink! I think more of the castles should be pink!

After we picked up Steve, he took us to Burn O Vat, which is basically a carved out little cove. It had a waterfall and it was gorgeous. We then drove through the highlands and I even saw one of those hairy large cows!

York! York! York! Tuesday June 22

Pics: The Minster, The Wall of York, Clifford's Tower, The Shambles, Our tour guide.

Mary Beth and I went to York, England on the train today. It took about three hours and was a good trip.

We first saw the Minister which is a gorgeous old church building. We then walked to our hotel and found a pub to eat a late lunch at. It was good. If the applesauce were a little more real, the pork and applesauce sandwich would have been even better!

We then walked around the wall of the city(it was walled for protection back in the day...like Roman times), which is awesomely cool. This is one of only a few cities in the world that has kept its wall.

We also walked through a section of the town which is known as The Shambles. Basically, all the buildings are skiwampus. When you talk about something being in shambles it comes for this street.

We then went on a silly ghost walk. The man who guided us was hilariously creepy. He made me laugh a lot and I had no bad dreams! On the way back to our hotel we had some amazing Orange Ginger Cheesecake. Amazing, simply amazing!

York was a huge highlight of my trip!

Wednesday/Thursday June 23-24 Dundee, Scotland

(Pics of Dundee from train as I departed!)

I'm just going to include what I have written in my travel journal. It may be edited for content. Not because of my vulgarity but probably because I am silly sometimes!

Mary Beth and I walked around York one last time and enjoyed the tourist shops. It was a fun morning. We got pasties at the train station and it was yummy!

Steve picked us up at the train station in Dundee and we drove all over getting stuff for a church function they were in charge of. It was a BBQ with wieners, chips(crisps), and ice cream.

We went into town because Steve had a meeting at his college and Mary Beth and I walked around downtown one last time. I was glad because I was able to get a t-shirt which I had not bought yet while in Scotland. I will miss the accents and rich history. The buildings are purely magical and it is truly a totally different place. I've noticed that the Scots are very helpful and kind which is nice. Seeing I am a bit nervous to be traveling alone on the train to Edinburgh to catch my flight, I asked a nice train guy if I was getting on the right train and he said: "Yes, on you go love!"

You would think going to the Iverkeithing station would be easy enough but I had to check about a million times that I was getting off at the right place!

I am sad to be leaving but at the same time it will be nice to not have to go and go and go!

**There is nothing like little kids with accents. There is a little blond boy on the train and it is adorable to listen to him speak!

The process of blogging about the UK has begun.

Hi. Welcome back to Rhinelander, Alice! I stayed with my sister and her family for a few days to get over my jet lag. I am glad I did too, because yesterday I was pretty delirious thanks to the whole I wanted to sleep for days feeling I had. I tried to tell a friend all about the trip on the phone and I couldn't even form sentences. I also was trying to watch a video that my nephew had made and I kept getting distracted and leaving the room. I am glad he didn't take it personally!

Elijah(my nephew, Sister Andi's kiddo) and I drove up to Rhinelander from Madison this afternoon after watching the USA World Cup Game. It was sad, but the US did well in the Cup! We stopped in Wausau and had dinner with Marla. It was nice.

I will start the process of blogging about my trip tomorrow. I think I maybe do a daily blog about each day with a few of the pics that were taken that day. You will then be able to view all of the photos on facebook. If you are not my friend on there yet, what is wrong with you! I have all the pics in my computer...so now the process of blogging can begin. (I pick tomorrow because it is tired in here!)

Here are some pics from today. E broke his skateboard so we had to buy a new one before coming Up North. He had to try the new one out in the parking lot at our few stops along the way. He is very cute when he sleeps too. This is how we roll on roadtrips: E sleeps, Alice drives!



Cheers!

York.

You know you want to read about my bonus England trip. Head to MBCB's site to read all about it!

Tonight is my last night in the UK. The bags are packed and I am starting to feel a little bit of sadness about leaving. At least I have some memories and t-shirts to take with me!

Cheers!