Day in Dover

What do you do when almost everyone goes to Paris?  You grab the rest and head to Dover!  Colby, Rob, Bryan, Antonio, and I hopped on a bus Sunday morning to explore the White Cliffs of Dover.   We planned the trip at 1 am that same morning, so we had no idea what to do but to just go and explore!  The bus ride was a 2 and a half hour ride, but since we left early in the morning, time flew by.  When we arrived around 11:30 we headed straight for the castle.  The walk was a long, uphill journey but the view was worth it.  Since the castle was not free and I've already seen so many castles, we passed on going inside (except for Colby, who somehow snuck in!).  The walls of the castle were beautiful and looked more medieval than the others that I've seen.

View from the outside of the castle

Entrance to the Dover castle

The walk back down

After walking up to the castle, we journeyed back into the town square to grab a bite for lunch.  We decided on a Charlie Chaplin themed restaurant and all got a true English breakfast.  As always, it was delicious! We filled up on eggs, toast, mushrooms, beans, hashbrowns, and sausage.

We walked around after lunch and saw a beautiful chapel.  It is eery, yet neat to always see cemeteries in almost every chapels' perimeter.   Eventually, we made our way down to the water.  It reminded me of Brighton, but much smaller and a lot less people.  It was very relaxing.

It was time to start the hike to the top of Dover Cliffs, but alas...we had no idea how to get there!  After a bus ride, going down multiple wrong paths, and asking many locals, we finally found the path that leads to the top.  I am used to hiking in the Red River Gorge which is covered in trees and creeks.  This hike however was not like that.  It was rolling hills of grass with farmland to the left and the sea to the right.  It looked unreal.  As a bonus, there were rabbit holes everywhere and if you looked hard enough, you could spot rabbits hopping along in the distance.

Once we got to the top, we popped some champagne and took in the view.  It's crazy that we all were strangers three weeks ago and now we all are great friends.  So thankful that I am surrounded by great people to spend this amazing experience with!

Left to right:  Me, Antonio, Rob, Colby, and Bryan

Funny Story:  While the guys were finishing champagne, I took the opportunity to walk around and take some photos during the golden hour.  I like to explore, but sometimes I forget not to stray too far.  I had gone past the fence and into the farmland when I saw a lighthouse in the distance.  Thinking it was a great photo opportunity, I started walking towards it.  I was far away enough from the trail to barely see the tops of peoples heads.  As I was walking, I noticed four guys heads walking away.  I panicked and thought that the guys were leaving me!  I immediately started running down the trail flailing my arms and yelling for them to wait.  After running for about a quarter of a mile, I finally found a gate that I could hop to get back on the trail that the guys were on.  I proceeded to continue to run up the hill to hopefully catch up with the guys.  When I made it to the top, there they were...sitting in the same spot and had not moved.  I had ran and looked like a crazy person for nothing and didn't even get the photo of the lighthouse!  After explaining what just happened to the guys, they laughed and said that I needed more champagne.  Typical!

Happy me before I went into abandoned, panic mode.

We ended our day by joining two of our new friends at an Italian restaurant for some appetizers before our journey home.  Although I did miss my girlfriends, I had a great weekend hanging with the guys!  Can't wait for our next adventure next weekend in Amsterdam!  Until then, cheers!

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"I do not have the slightest clue what I'm doing...that's the adventure...I stopped worrying about it...that's the beauty.
-Jason King

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Second Day: Edinburgh, Scotland

Well after some much needed sleep, Brianna and I had another great day!  We started our day as any inner princess would and visited Edinburgh's castle.  It was quite an uphill walk, but it made for amazing views!

The entrance to the castle.  They are in the process of building a stadium around the front of the castle.

Main part of the castle where the kings and queens lived.

Pretty nice view from the castle.

Perfect place for a selfie!

Another great view.  I love looking at all the old and new buildings mixed together!

At the castle we decided to skip the guided tour and walk around ourselves.  I'm pretty good at directions and maps, but the castle map was pretty confusing.  Luckily I had Brianna to act as my tour guide and lead the way!  It's great to have a travel buddy!

Brianna being my tour guide and leading the way as I sneak some photos!

The castle was huge and we got to see the throne room, living quarters, prisons, and go through multiple museums.  They also had many beautiful memorials for the men who died in war.  My favorite part was just looking at all the buildings and architecture.   It's amazing how people were able to create this beautiful castle without the help of modern day tools!

Part of the Edinburgh castle.

Queen Mary of Scots bedchamber's fireplace.  Makes me want to get a blanket and curl up next to a fire!

Entrance to a memorial building for soldiers who have died.

A memorial for soldier dogs.

A outdoor prison cell.

Prison cell for soldiers.

Shower room for prisons.  

After our nice tour of Edinburgh castle we got some tasty ice cream on our way out. We ended the day by going to the Scottish National Gallery.  It was filled with different styles of paintings from all around Scotland. Unfortunately we only had 20 minutes until it closed but we still got to enjoy most of the museum!

Enjoying some vanilla ice cream!

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I think today went a lot smoother as we had more rest and a better grip of our surroundings.  I can't get enough of just walking around and site seeing!  Can't wait for more!

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First Day: Edinburgh, Scotland

Before going to London, Brianna, another study abroad student, and I decided to visit Edinburgh, Scotland.  I had three flights Wednesday and after 12 hours of travel, we finally made it here!  I was mesmerized when I heard people talking in a Scottish accent for the first time.  Even though I knew that people talked differently here, I still freaked out a little inside!  

When I was still in Kentucky, but it's so beautiful!

After Brianna and I both arrived and found each other, we managed to get an Uber and make it to our hotel.  We couldn't check in yet, but we were able to drop off our luggage and start our day!  Since it was raining and we were exhausted, we took things slow and walked around the Royal Mile.  The Royal Mile is a road in between the Edinburgh Castle and Holyrood Palace.  On the Royal Mile there are lots of museums, historical sites, and shops.   The first thing we did was we got some coffee and then went into the Edinburgh museum.  Then we walked along the Royal Mile and popped into any place that looked interesting.

One of the first Cathedrals we walked by and a statue of a famous poet.

I'm not sure what this was, I think it is government buildings.  It was one of those pictures that you take because everyone else is taking pictures of it! 

The Royal Mile

This is the St. Giles Cathedral.  It was one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen.  The stained glass and vaulted ceilings were magical and the organ was huge! Inside they were having a service so we couldn't walk around too much or take pictures, but we are planning on going back. 

One of my favorite places that we hopped into was a renovated cathedral that was turned into a market place/cafe.  The building was beautiful and the stained glass was breathtaking.   There were lots of vendors inside making it a great place to pop in for a few minutes to get out of the rain.  

One of the stained glass pieces in the cathedral.

A bit of the marketplace and more stained glass.

I thought the person sitting up there was fake, but he was real!  He was working on a huge painting.

Loving his Mad Hatter hat.

The last thing we did was we went on an underground walking tour of Edinburgh called the Real Mary King's Close tour.  It was a tour that took you underground and through old buildings and closes(alleyways) that were built on top of by the government in the 1600s.  We learned about how people lived there and learned more about the plague.  It was a great tour if you are ever in the area.  Unfortunately, no pictures were allowed, so you'll just have to take my word for it!

At they end of the day, we checked in to our hotel, freshened up, took a nap, and got the best take away food ever.  Can you guess what it was?  Fish and chips!  I know, so typical, but it was the best fish and chips I have had by far.  We got it from a small takeaway restaurant called Bene's.  We both were originally in the mood for pizza but we took a hint from the locals who all got fish and chips and we were not disappointed!

Our walk to get our food.

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Brianna and I are both exhausted and our feet hurt but today was so worth it.  I'm still processing that this is real life and that I'm living my dream.  I'm already homesick, but I know that this an opportunity of a life time and I'm so thankful for it.   One of my favorite movies called The Secret Life of Walter Mitty has a great quote that I'm basing my trip off of.   The main character works at Life magazine who's quote is

"To See the World, things dangerous to come to,  to see behind walls, to draw closer, to find each other and to feel.  That is the purpose of life. "

It's talking about courage and facing the world head on, to not do something because you are scared, and to make connections with people.  That is my goal.  I'll be honest, I'm so scared to be here, but so excited.  I don't know what's going to happen, but that's not going to stop me from doing what I want.  I want to be adventurous, see and learn about everything I can, and connect with so many different people around the world.  I'm finally here and I'm so thankful.

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