Ireland in February

 At the end of the kids' half term break, we took a 4-day trip to the west coast of Ireland. It proved to be a wonderful getaway, exploring the beautiful and unique countryside. We stayed in a cute cottage on a mountain near Clonbur.

 

We spent our first day settling into the cottage and finding food in the nearby village.  Mia told us that the 2 things she wanted to do in Ireland were to go on a boat and climb a mountain, because "hiking is her favorite thing to do in the countryside."  So we did our best to do those 2 things!

 

On our first second day, we took a ferry to the Aran Island of Inishmore, most commonly known for the invention of the Aran Sweater. Inishmore is such a unique place. The island landscape consists of lots of limestone, creating a really interesting and unique view. We had lunch in a cafe upon arrival and then set off on a hike to the "Black Fort." The hike to the fort was just gorgeous, especially when we reached the end of the island...sheer cliffs.

 

Inside the Black Fort

 

On our third day, we hiked to the top of the mountain behind our house and enjoyed some beautiful views.

On our way down the mountain, we came into some close contact with some sheep.  They were curious about us for a few minutes, and then they passed us by.  After our morning hike, we relaxed a bit in the afternoon and then went to the city of Galway for some window shopping and dinner in a nice Irish Pub. 

 

On our way to the airport on Sunday, we stopped at Ashford Castle.  It's a ritsy hotel now, so we couldn't go inside, but we had a lovely walk around the gardens.



 

It was a refreshing getaway for us.  We found the Irish people to be super friendly and very funny.  So many people had such a great sense of humor, joking around with us even though we were strangers. 

Alnwick Castle

We decided at the last minute on our last day in Edinburgh that we would drive a little bit out of our way on the way home to see Alnwick Castle, about 2 hours from Edinburgh, 4 hours from Derby. Alnwick Castle is where many scenes, especially outdoor scenes were filmed for the first 2 Harry Potter movies. I was so happy that we went. I think the Castle has become my favorite, even above Warwick, in terms of its beauty and arrangment. I loved that it is still used a family home for part of the year. We took a tour that described all the scenes from the movies that were filmed there along with some interesting facts and stories that happened during the filming.

When we arrived we were greeted by a dragon!

Almost immediately we were able to see the location where the first flying lesson took place.  Unfortunately, we arrived too late for the kids to take a flying lesson themselves.  I suppose that's a reason to go back for a second visit.

 In this big yard is where the fist flying lesson took place along with some quidditch scenes.

 Hogwarts Castle from a distance doesn't really look much like Alnwick, the distance view is all computer graphics, but the scenes from within the castle are definitely recognizable.

Sean got caught up in a Jester show.  I am so glad that I didn't get picked...it was a bit embarrassing, he handled it so well!

After the Jester show, we went over to the Knights Quest area where the girls decided to get all dressed up in lovely costumes.  Avery isn't really into the dressing up thing, but there were lots of fun games for the kids to play too.  There was more for us to see there that we just didn't have time for so maybe will make it back next year.

It was so fun to come back home and watch the Harry Potter movies again and recognize all the places we had scene in Scotland and at Alnwick.  Visiting the Castle was the perfect way to end our holiday.

Scotland Tour: Edinburgh

Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland...and it's pronounced "Edinbura". It's funny because Brits that come to the US and visit Pittsburgh would say "Pittsbura"! After spending a couple days in the Highlands, we traveled to Edinburgh for a day in the city.  I found it to be a very comfortable and safe city.  We stayed in an apartment right on the "Royal Mile" which is a road a little over a mile long between the Edinburgh Castle and the Palace of Holyroodhouse.  We didn't actually go in the castle or the Palace, but caught some views from the outside and checked out the shops along the way.  I always enjoy perusing the royal gift shops with Queen Elizabeth merchandise.  Somehow though when my husband is with me I don't spend as much money!

 The view from outside the Castle, in the center of the arena where they are getting ready for the Edinburgh Military Tatoo, an annual August military performance.

 While on our way to the Palace, we reached the "world's end".  The alleyways between buildings are called "closes" and Sean stood in the World's End Close.  Just outside the close is where the original wall of the city was, and so for the residents of the city that was "the end of the world."

The view of Holyroodhouse Palace, a royal residence.  I would have loved to go inside, but the kids were a bit exhausted from a day of walking in the rain. 

This is St. Giles Cathedral, just outside of our apartment.  We took a little walk through at the beginning of our day and saw the Thistle Chapel, which is a small chapel in the corner which seemed to be entirely constructed of wood carvings.  It is in the Thistle Chapel, that Prince William was inducted as a Knight of the Order of the Thistle on July 5th.

Our apartment in Edinburgh was just lovely and in a perfect location.  We lived on the 3rd floor of this building above.  The rooms felt old with huge, thick doors, enormous windows and cathedral ceilings. After spending 2 of the previous nights packed into a single hotel room, the space felt really nice!

Scotland Tour: Fort William

Last weekend we took a short break to Scotland.  Our first stop was Fort William, which was about 7 hours north of us.  Some of the draw to this area is the scenic West Coast Railway, made famous in the 2nd Harry Potter Movie.  We also wanted to see the beautiful scenery that Scotland has to offer. 

So on our first full day in Scotland we did some more driving to see a few sites.  Our first castle was the Eilean Donan Castle, which may seem familiar because it has been in lots of movies since the mid 1900s, most recently "Made of Honor" in 2008.  The castle was very picturesque, out on it's own peninsula, with a bagpiper playing out front. 

This castle has its origin in the 13th century, but was destroyed in the early 1700s and wasn't rebuilt until the early 1900s.  It is a relatively small, romantic castle, and the first one that I've been in that feels like a real home.  We explored the castle and then enjoyed the scenery outside.

On our way to see Loch Ness, we stopped on the side of the road to see a local war monument and spotted some Highland cows.

For those of you who don't know, "Loch" means lake, so there are many Lochs in Scotland.  I found that this area of Scotland reminded me a lot of the Adirondack lakes surrounded by mountains.  It didn't take long for us to get to Loch Ness, a very large and deep lake.  We pulled over and went to the Loch Ness Centre, which does a nice job of sharing all the monster stories, the hoaxes, and all the investigations that have been done to explain the sitings.  It's pretty amazing the amount of science that has been done in the loch to understand what lives there and what doesn't.  Unfortunately, we had no sitings of Nessie, the Loch Ness Monster while we were there.

Warwick Eagles

After Wales, we spent a few days laying low and then on Good Friday, Sean had the day off so we brought my parents and the kids to Warwick Castle.  We had been to Warwick last Fall, but there were still things that we hadn't seen there.  Most notable, the Eagle show.  It was worth the trip just to see that in my opinion.  We watched several birds of prey show off their skills, skim the tops of our heads, it was really amazing!

Before heading home, we found a little Italian restaurant and got some delicious pizzas.  A nice last dinner out with my parents before their return trip home.

Mia got to have another Marguerita Pizza - her favorite!

Wales Trip - Caernarfon Castle

 On our third day, we went to another Edwardian Castle, Caernarfon Castle.  This castle is also in ruins, though it is still used for rare royal ceremonies, specifically crowning of the Prince of Wales (currently Prince Charles).  Construction on the castle began in 1283 and was created not only as a military stronghold but also as a seat of government and royal palace. Caernarfon has a bit more on display than Conwy Castle, with an impressive museum inside that displays the history of the Welsh servicemen over history. There is also a room devoted to the history of the Princes of Wales.

Climbing to the tops of the towers is always a fun thing to do in these castles!

Wales Trip - Conwy Castle

After the kids got out of school on Friday, we were on our way to Wales. For those of you who don't know, the United Kingdom is currently made up of 4 Countries: England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. We live in England, and Wales is a couple of hours west of us.

We stayed in a village just outside of the town of Conwy, so on our first day, we went to see Conwy Castle. Like most castles in the UK, Conwy is in ruins. Some of the interior walls don't exist anymore and most of the floors in the towers are gone. It's really interesting to climb in the towers and walk along the walls. You can see the areas where guards were posted to defend the castle. 

Construction of Conwy Castle began in 1283 by King Edward I who was expanding the English kingdom into Wales.  He built an "iron ring" of  Castles around Wales to subdue the rebellious Welsh population.  The town of Conwy is also surrounded by a wall to protect the English Colony within. 

Alexa outside a gift shop outside the castle.