A Titanic Catastrophe and Gigantic Rocks

I had a lot of fun in our short time in Northern Ireland. We visited the Titanic Museum which was all about how the Titanic was built in the Belfast shipyards and what it looked like inside. There was also a discovery area where you could watch footage of the probes exploring the sunken ship. Our car was very hard to find when we left the museum but I managed to locate it. We went down a few backstreets to find a pub where I had bangers and mash. YUM! Mom and I also found Lucky II at our host David's house.

We went north of Belfast and walked along the Giant's Causeway. I was in awe of the strange shaped massive rocks. I had a lot of fun climbing over the weird shaped rocks. Tide pools in between the rocks were also oddly shaped and I even found a few fish living in them. I really enjoyed Northern Ireland and I wish we could have stayed longer.

Looking For Nessie

Scotland was a very interesting place to see. We visited Loch Ness but Nessie wasn't there to say hi. There was an impressive castle along the way that we stopped at to take some pictures. It sat on an island that was in the middle of the river mouth so it would be hard to get to when the tide was high. We visited the Isle of Skye and there were many cliffs to look over and take pictures from but you had to be careful because there were no railings to keep you from going over the edge! We visited a castle called Dunvegan Castle that belonged to one of the Scottish clan chiefs and is still used every year. We went to Ballater to see the Highland Games. We watched the caber tossing and it was very cool to see the contestants lifting a massive log. One contestant couldn't even lift the log! We also saw the Dunnottar Castle that was held by many people including William Wallace! Now I really want to see Braveheart. We also saw the St. Andrews golf course. Yay?

We visited Edinburgh during the Fringe Festival so there were street performers everywhere and we saw one guy from Canada who was an amazing unicycler and jugger! We had supper at a potato bar where they bake potatoes, mash up the insides, and then you add toppings to them. We visited the Doune castle where part of Monty Python and the Holy Grail was shot. I stood where Graham Chapman stood while John Cleese made fun of him from on top of the wall in the film. We visited the William Wallace monument that was made for him about five hundred years after he died. We visited the Kelpies, a pair of giant metal horse heads. I had fun relaxing in my room in Kinghorn because the sun came through the windows every morning and warmed the room up. I enjoyed visiting with our Mennonite Your Way hosts Jan and Stewart in Kinghorn which is near Edinburgh. They were like grandparents and I'm going to miss them.

We went to see Hadrian's Wall which was a long walk up the hillside. We went into England and explored the Lake District. We saw some hairy highland cows and drove through the twisty narrow roads in the countryside. It was always interesting and a little scary trying to pass people. I really enjoyed seeing Scotland and my favourite day was seeing the Highland Games.

Weekend at Malcolm's

Orkney was great because of Malcolm! He was our host and the day we arrived he was off in Aberdeen having some kidney stones removed! He says he is making a necklace out of them! He took us on a tour of some neolithic sites like the standing stones and an old village site. I purchased an area of land (K11) at a huge neolithic dig site and am waiting for an e-mail that will tell me if they find anything. The site was where four hundred cattle were killed and eaten in a feast that was attended by thousands. When the feast was done, the whole village was buried by the inhabitants and then they left without a trace. Very mysterious. We saw a flower box in Stromness harbour that comes to life at the stroke of midnight (wink, wink, at least that's what Malcolm said). We explored Stromness and saw cut away buildings so people could get their boats to their homes. I looked at some pigeon nesting site where they collected their eggs. I explored the shore of the coastal town of St. Margaret's Hope. I enjoyed Orkney and already miss our host Malcolm.

We're Here! (finally)

The Janzens have arrived! With four bags instead of five!? Mom's bag never left the Toronto airport even though the ladies behind the front desk in London said it would. When we arrived in Shetland, we went to explore the Sumburgh lighthouse on the cliff and there we saw a group of nesting puffins. They were waddling in and out of these holes in the cliffs and were sunning themselves on the rocks. I found some Haggis flavored chips but didn't buy them. I saw a Scottish scarecrow that wore a kilt. I took a dip in the ocean. It was cold! We went and had some fish at Frankie's Fish and Chips. It was marvelous. I tried pushing a giant metal ball in the Lerwick harbour. I was glad to be back in Europe where I could buy Bitter Lemon, my favourite drink. Shetland is famous for their small ponies and I saw lots of them. I helped fire the cannons at the Viking ship below. When we left Shetland, we sailed by Fair Isle which is where a few people live and make sweaters because they have sheep and it is freezing there! Shetland was a nice surprise because we actually had a sunny day and it was hard to find any trees.