Kilkenny & Dublin

We made another day trip out of Dublin to the town of Kilkenny. Luckily we got the reduced price for the Kilkenny Castle which resulted in each ticket only being 1,50 Euros. A bargain if I can say so myself. Tours like this always weird me out a little as it's really odd to have rooms recreated. Obviously, a room and its items cannot be 100% original or authentic, but it's really weird knowing that the entire room is fake.











Back in Dublin (on another day) we took a tour of Guinness. I actually had never tried Guiness until Paris when A. bought one to accompany his dinner. I'm not a fan of alcohol. Or more accurately, I don't care for alcohol. I don't have any moral objections to it, I just don't drink it.




Learning how to drink a Guinness. This glass was so cute.


View from the top floor.
Overall Thoughts
We were blessed with pretty good weather in Ireland. Overcast (generally) but thankfully not wet. The interesting thing was that our hostel was 50m away from a nightclub which resulted in a lot of noisy nights. Thankfully I can sleep through noise these days, but was still a little annoying having music being blasted till 5am. Aren't there any regulations or bylaws?

Would I re-visit?
Dublin no, but the rest of Republic of Ireland,. yes. An emphatic yes. I would love to visit the West Coast. Sadly, I didn't have the time (and I guess money) to make this happen this time around.

Howth, Dublin

Oh Ryanair. The flight from Edinburgh to Dublin was 45 minutes and the plane was delayed 1 hr. Naturally. Dublin was gloomy except for the day that I went to Howth. Actually I am in Germany currently and seeing even a moment of blue sky makes me happy. I don't even know what I would do if I saw the sun.

14th December 2014
On the second day in Dublin, we went to Howth which is an outer suburb of Dublin. It was super windy however this simply resulted in incredible clouds.










These reminded me of the thorns from when Maleficient places the curse on Aurora and the castle.


Central Dublin

I would highly recommend the penisular walk provided that it is good weather.

Goodbye Edinburgh

Random collection of photos from Edinburgh, Scotland.








Calton Hill



Overall Thoughts
Edinburgh was a nice break from the busy-ness of London however after 7 days, it felt like it was time to move on. It is a lovely city, very beautiful as expected, especially once you step away from the Royal Mile.

Would I re-visit?
When travelling through the highlands, I thought to myself that I would love to visit Scotland in the summer or spring months for hiking purposes. I would actually love to visit the Isle of Skye too. However, I think it is similar to New Zealand with the mountain ranges, the sheep and the natural beauty. Not identical, but similar so maybe I re-visit won't be happening anytime soon (since it would be cheaper to get to New Zealand).

Pelted by Hail in the Scottish Highlands

10th December 2014
So what is a trip to Scotland without visiting the hyped Loch Ness? Without a car, the easiest way to see the Scottish Highlands was by a tour. I'm personally not the biggest fan of tours but it is convenient. The day that we went was the day which proceeded the "weather bomb". The weather was quite unpredictable, moments of rain, snow and hail. Although I had prepared myself mentally for wet and cold weather in Europe, I never even considered hail. Being pelted by hail isn't exactly fun and resulted in quick dashes from and to the mini bus.

I actually stupidly/ carelessly deleted photos off my SD card before I completely  transferred them over and although I did recover a dozen or so, I do have some missing. Namely, of Loch Ness. Of course.

I think the history of Scotland is so interesting and complicated. Just fascinating. Countryside Scotland actually reminded me a lot of New Zealand to be honest. Gorgeous and stunning.

Urquhart Castle and the only photo I have of Loch Ness.

Glasgow

Glasgow. I had always wanted to visit the city after Love Actually due to one of my all time favourite pieces, "Glasgow Love Theme". Yes really. I pretty much knew nothing about Glasgow apart from (i) the rivalry between Edinburgh and Glasgow and (ii) it was very much an industrial or worker city.


Glasgow Cathedral



Until my trip to the US, I had never visited a cemetary before. These days, I am quite open/ interested in visting one and it is why we ended up at Glasgow Necropolis.






People make Glasgow






An amazing mac & cheese with cajun chicken for an early dinner.

Overall Thoughts
Glasgow is very much a worker city and not quite appealing to tourists as Edinburgh. However I think it would be quite a lovely place to live in. I really had no expectations of Glasgow and found the Cathedral and Necropolis interesting (if that can be said...)

Would I re-visit?
No.

Edinburgh I

7th December 2014
I stayed in Edinburgh for a total of 7 days and I believe that later posts will simply be compilations. The weather was pretty good for the first three days however a "weather bomb" affected Scotland which brought strong winds, rain and snow!




I am not the biggest fan of Harry Potter, but for the famous cafe that J K Rowling visited, you would think they could have selected a better font. Seriously. Out of all the fonts.

Edinburgh Castle






The Christmas markets were very disappointing and seriously overpriced!

London III

6th December 2014
One of my favourite places on my last visit to London was Greenwich Park. For our last day in London, we stayed in a hotel in Greenwich and decided to catch the sunrise from Greenwich Park before catching the (disappointing) Virgin train to Edinburgh.










Super cool English canals.

Overall Thoughts
I enjoyed London a lot more on my previous visit. This time I realised it was just an insanely busy city. This feeling was probably further exacerbated by the Chritmas shopping crowds and the overall frenzy on the streets. It was weird transitioning from Paris where things closed relatively early to a place where things were open to 11pm (if not later) 7 days a week. Of course this was only really restricted to central London but I feel that it was kind of reflected in the suburbs.

Would I re-visit?
Not anytime soon. It seems that I am not much of a "big city" kind of person anymore.

London II

3rd December 2014

This was probably the second best morning I had in London in terms of weather. Last time I visited, I saw the end of the changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace. This time, I decided to see it; it's just one of those things that should be seen once ... I guess.






In hindsight, I wouldn't recommend it at all. It was so boring and long and I became frozen by the end of it.


How I felt too




The coolest thing in London during my visit was the Paddington bears that were scattered throughout London. There are 50 in London (more info here) to celebrate the release of the film, Paddington.




Christmas tree at Somerset House. The Christmas tree at Trafalger Square was so disappointing.


Near St Peters Cathedral


Also found Twinnings' Flagship Tea Store accidentally. It was very cool (I am a tea lover) but crazily expensive!